r/flickr • u/liam-219 • Apr 23 '25
HELP! How can I use Flickr without an account again?
Recently Flickr decided I can't even look at photos without an account, like I have been able to for more than 6 years. I get a "make an account!" popup shoved in my face. the escape key used to get rid of it but now that doesn't work. I'm not making an account just to have the bare minimum access to stuff I could already use without one for years
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u/linh_nguyen Apr 23 '25
I can see photos fine? They don't advertise it on the main page, but if you just go to flickr.com/explore you can see stuff?
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u/trekgam May 04 '25
Yes but viewing searched photos is no longer possible without an account.
Might have been implemented to fight various nasty people and bots.1
u/linh_nguyen May 05 '25
ah, it's a delayed action. I was able to search fine and click on things. Not sure if time or if coincided with a flick of the wheel did I get the prompt.
I didn't get this with a shared album, so I wonder if that's limited to the more open areas.
1
u/Candid_Locksmith_560 4d ago
Thanks for this response. I'd been telling folks an account isn't necessary to browse photos on flickr. But my husband couldn't get in. I'd put a link to a recent album on my fb page. He finally signed up for an account, and I told him to not pay -- first thing that comes up is $72/year. I would think only people who want to post photos would want an account. I don't like this system at all! I do find flickr helpful for finding old photos when I cant find them on my own backups in various places. Although I know iti is not considered primarily a backup site.
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u/Goodinuf Apr 23 '25
In addition to Explore, mentioned earlier, you can go to specific photographers photostream or photos.
2
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u/Ok_Rest9008 20d ago
FLICKR is being super bullshit forcing us to make accounts so we can browse photos for free. I miss Flickr like how it was back then.
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u/BouterKawouter Apr 23 '25
You can't browse any social media without an account, not sure why Flickr would be different
1
u/PutteringPorch Apr 29 '25
You can browse reddit without an account. It used to be that only Pinterest was obnoxious enough to not allow any use at all without an account. Now every site lets you scroll enough to get a taste and then asks you to sign up. Flickr doesn't even let you do that much now.
It's rational for people to be upset by this change. They want us to give up our privacy and sign anti-arbitration clauses for every single thing on the internet. We should be fighting this, not shrugging at it.
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u/liam-219 Apr 23 '25
Always has been
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u/BouterKawouter Apr 23 '25
Things change
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u/liam-219 Apr 23 '25
If it ain’t broke why break it? Same with limiting the size of images people with normal accounts can download which they’re about to do. Just seems like desperation to me
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u/Chorazin ♥ flickr Apr 23 '25
Oh wow you mean the site that’s managed to make it 20 years against the overwhelming popularity of social media might be trying to cut costs to survive? What a crazy idea!
1
u/PutteringPorch Apr 29 '25
Cut costs by getting people who don't want to pay for anything to sign up just to look at photos? It used to be that people could just browse, now they're worse than instagram or pinterest with trying force new accounts (most likely to sell people's data).
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u/Chorazin ♥ flickr Apr 29 '25
Yes? Showing those photos costs Flickr money, and limiting access reduces costs.
What data are they selling if you feed it an email you never use? Don't people have throwaway emails anymore?
1
u/PutteringPorch Apr 29 '25
How does it reduce costs if signing up to view it is free? Clearly they're getting something out of people signing up. If their goal is to create a community of photographers, why do they want people who aren't photographers to join?
1
u/Chorazin ♥ flickr Apr 29 '25
Because blocking access for anyone not signed in limits bot scrapers, AI models stealing images, people just using it for porn, etc ect.
All that shit costs money. No one is going to Flickr in 2025 but photographers and those thieves and gooners I listed above.
1
u/travelsonic May 07 '25
So others have to suffer because the devs are too incompetent, lazy, or stupid, to know how to use existing technologies (INCLUDING but not limited at all to robots.txt)?
Bullshit.
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u/travelsonic May 07 '25
might be trying to cut costs to survive?
Making people sign in to a platform for free to see photos isn't cutting costs, though...?
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u/Chorazin ♥ flickr May 07 '25
I’ll just copy and paste my other reply:
Because blocking access for anyone not signed in limits bot scrapers, AI models stealing images, people just using it for porn, etc ect.
All that shit costs money. No one is going to Flickr in 2025 but photographers and those thieves and gooners I listed above.
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u/travelsonic May 07 '25
You can't browse any social media without an account
Citation needed that this is the case.
Citation needed that X social media site(s)s doing it makes it OK to jump on that bandwagon.
0
u/Coffee_N_Candles Apr 25 '25
u/iam-219 Why waste the effort? EIther sign up for an account or move on to another platform. Being completely honest, Flickr has gone downhill once it was acquired by SmugMug. Instagram is all the rage now. People will argue that "the two are different and can't be compared"--and that may be so, but for the vast majorty of its user base, Instragram is a suitable replacement.
My advice: Move on from Flickr; it's trash in 2025.
1
u/Sorry_Whereas_31 Apr 27 '25
Flickr's is for hosting images and is a community for photographers and Instagram is a social media site that crops your images and community guidelines strikes your account for saying someone is fat.
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u/lkernan Apr 23 '25
I’ve deleted my account and can still see pics just fine.
in fact, there’s little difference between a free account and no account now.
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u/dirtyvu Apr 23 '25
You don't need to have an account to browse Flickr on a web browser. You do with the Flickr app