Summary

  • Flickr let older members keep its email-based sign-in when it added Yahoo IDs for new members in August 2005. In January 2007 it announced the old sign-in would end on 20 March and everyone would need a Yahoo ID.
  • When Flickr announced its move to SmugMug in 2018, it said photo URLs would remain unchanged while members continued to log in with Yahoo credentials. On 4 March 2019, it began a staged rollout of its own login; users still needed their Yahoo credentials until the change reached their accounts.

Two names, one account, another company's key

Flickr's August 2005 account explanation made a sharp distinction. A member's Flickr screen name and photo address would stay put. The Yahoo ID was the credential used to sign in. Someone could keep a known public name and a link to their pictures while the private path into the account moved to another company's identity system. The product team called this a convenience for new members and a way to use capabilities across Yahoo's network. It also said running two sign-in systems in parallel consumed effort it wanted to spend elsewhere.

The rollout began with an exception. Under Flickr's 16 August 2005 notice, new members had to use a Yahoo ID, but older members could continue with their Flickr email address and password or merge the two accounts. The team warned those older members that third-party programs using Flickr's API might need updates to work with the new authentication method. The login was not just the line above a password box; other software had learned how to ask it for permission.

The exception had a deadline. On 30 January 2007, Flickr said it would discontinue its old email-based sign-in on 20 March. From then on, a Yahoo ID would be required to enter a Flickr account. The notice pointed to mobile products already using Yahoo IDs and to a simpler sign-in system ahead of further projects. Users could keep their visible Flickr identity, but the older entry mechanism would close.

There was later a narrow alternative for a different group. Flickr's October 2010 OpenID announcement allowed a Google account to create a new Flickr account. The same announcement said existing Flickr account holders still needed their Yahoo IDs. The exception matters: the Yahoo dependency was especially durable for people whose photographs and relationships already lived inside an established account.

A new owner inherited the old gate

In April 2018, Flickr announced that SmugMug would acquire it. Its account Q&A paired two promises that operated on different layers. Photo URLs would remain on flickr.com, and members could keep accessing their pictures. Asked whether they still needed their Yahoo login, Flickr answered yes during the transition. The terms governing accounts were due to move to SmugMug on 25 May. The authentication method was not scheduled to move on that date. A new owner could take responsibility for the service before it had replaced the credential system inherited from the old one.

By November 2018, Flickr described the cost in its own words: members confused about the address tied to their account, missed notifications and difficulty getting in. The company said it was building a login that would no longer require a Yahoo account. Those are reported problems, not a count of affected members. The public photo address had survived the sale; for some owners of those photos, the route to manage them was still awkward.

On 4 March 2019, Flickr began the new login rollout. It said the migration would reach members over the following weeks. Until an account's turn arrived, its owner continued to use Yahoo credentials. When prompted, the member would choose a new login email address and password, initially from the Yahoo sign-in email or the account's primary contact email. The announcement still told people to keep access to their old Yahoo credentials so the switch would go smoothly. The old key was needed to receive the new one.

This is what the long arc of Flickr's login reveals. In 2005 a Yahoo ID was sold as one less password. In 2007 it became the required path for older accounts. In 2018 a change of corporate ownership left that path operating. Only in 2019 did Flickr start moving those accounts to its own sign-in. The photographs and their URLs had not waited for the new login. Account control did.

Original records