Flickr 12+

20 years

Edited July 2024
It isn’t hyperbole to say that the last 22 years of my life is documented on Flickr. You can’t see it anymore because most of it set to private now, but I learned how to take pictures with Flickr photography business and had 15 years of the most amazing job I could ever imagine thanks to Flickr. I met some of my best friends thanks to Flickr. I’ve traveled the world hanging out with people thanks to Flickr. I don’t know if I use hyperbole correctly. My point is that-Flickr is the thing that when asked, I would say as the one thing I would grab when I was running out of a burning house. Except except for the fact that I don’t have to grab it. It’s safe. , honestly that’s my only fear. What would I do with all of this? How would I see my pictures? How would I be able to scroll through 20 years? Keep doing what you’re doing. It’s pretty awesome. I appreciate it. I’ll keep using you and paying for it. (And thank u for buying them and saving them the only time I was ever worried about losing a technology. Technically wise, I have used almost every or tried every photo archiving system and Flickr is the best cloud driven personal photo sharing organization system there is. Hands down. You make 🍎s photos weep at what it might have been. )
Anyway, I feel pretty vulnerable putting out that I don’t know what I would do without Flickr. Even though I don’t use any of the social aspects that were a huge part of my life for years. But there it is.

The last great platform for specifically photographers

Flickr is the last real platform for the photography community (and for other creators). While I'm also an avid user of Instagram, the difference in purpose and focus between Instagram and Flickr is so clear. I've been a Flickr user since 2006 and a Pro member for almost as long, and I'll be a Pro member for as long as Flickr supports this community!

If you're looking for a place where the features, users, and community, are focused on photography (not influencing and marketing), Flickr is that place. No algorithms shoving targeted content down your throat, no influencers hawking essential oils and watches, no trending videos or stories to boost DAU metrics, and for Pro members, NO ADS - just the talented, weird, serious, imaginative, beginner or veteran photographers and groups that you choose to follow. If Instagram is a shopping mall, Flickr is an art gallery + photo meet-up.

Thank you, Flickr and SmugMug, for preserving this platform, for all the technical and UX improvements you've been making, and for trying keep this place pure and focused on photography. I was one of the many complainers during the final years of Yahoo, but I'm more grateful than ever to have this platform and for the new life that you've given it. Thank you!

Too limited in scope

I have a Flickr Pro subscription, and began uploading all of my photos. I now have a few hundred albums, but the iOS application only shows me the first 50 or so. I’ve seen bug reports about this online, but no resolution. I also started adding albums to Collections (using my Windows computer and the web ui) to make it easier to group albums, say from a single trip. Sadly, I could find no way to access those with the app either. It’s just simpler and less restricting to use the website than the app. That is pathetic. UPDATE Nov 2023: Ok, Flickr, I reached out to your tech support as you suggested. I had resolved the missing albums via uninstall/reinstall (not the friendliest way to fix a bug). As for the rest of my issues, here is what your specialist team said: I understand you would like to be able to see and manage collections, as well as sort albums on the mobile app. While these are not currently options through Flickr, I can definitely understand the desire to see these features. I went ahead and forwarded those suggestions on to our Product Development team for consideration. So the web version is still more powerful than the app… pathetic still.

Nov 18: responding to the new developer response – your tech-support seem took my featur requests and submitted them. until these features make it into the app, using the app to view thousands of photos and hundreds of albums is a very poor experience.

Developer Response ,

Hi there. We appreciate the feedback. We are continuing to work to make the app more reflective of desktop, but some features from the desktop version are not featured on the app at this time. If you'd like to leave a comment or suggestion that will help us improve the product, we'd love to hear it. Please feel free to do so here: https://help.flickr.com/contact