Ed Sheeran spoke to Taylor Swift for "four hours" after he learnt of her engagement to Travis Kelce through social media

But Ed - who has been best friends with Taylor since 2014 - did not know about it until the news broke because he does not have a mobile phone.

Ed - who sees social media posts via a laptop and gets told about posts via his management - revealed to Access Hollywood: "My way of viewing it is that me and Taylor are mates, and I will see her, and I saw her a week after that happened ...

"When I saw Taylor, we had a four-hour catch-up."

He added: "I'm not self-conscious about my relationship with her. We've been friends for many years, we're super close, and we see each other when we see each other.

"And when we see each other, we lock back in to where we left off."

Months after their catch-up, Taylor - who agreed to marry Travis after he proposed to her in the back garden of his home in Leawood, Missouri - revealed why she did not call him to share the happy news.

Appearing on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in October, she said: "I have a perfect explanation ... he doesn't have a phone. I'm going through my texts and being like, 'Who have I texted within the last month in my life?' And he just wasn't there.

"You have to email him. If you want to set up a FaceTime, he has to find an iPad. They have to give it to him like he's a child that you give the iPad to."

The Shake It Off hitmaker initially felt bad about not directly telling Ed about her and Travis' engagement.

Taylor added: "This is one of my absolute favourite people on the planet.

"When the news came out, I was like, 'We forgot to call Ed! Oh, no!'

"He's like family. I love him, but he doesn't have a phone."

Ed said he ditched smart devices because he does not want them to run his life, and also he wants to be "present" for his wife Cherry, 33, and their daughter, Lyra, five, and Jupiter, three.

The Castle on the Hill hitmaker told Access Hollywood: "I've actually got rid of the iPad as well, I'm not on anything anymore ...

"I have a laptop that is signed into stuff. I have someone who works on my management who finds stuff, sends it to me in one email, and I comment on everything. So I don't have to be chronically online, but I can have someone go, 'This is a funny video, check it out, comment on it.'

"I feel like devices are running people's lives, and I like opening a laptop, work, closing a laptop.

"I've got children, I've got a wife, I've got family, I want to be present, I don't want to be in the internet sphere 24/7.

"I know that it's culturally mental, but it's how I grew up as a kid, I wasn't in touch with anyone."