For more than a decade, login on Flickr has been bound to Yahoo’s login authorization system, requiring each of our members to own a Yahoo account to access their Flickr account.

From the day we announced Flickr was joining SmugMug, the single most requested feature by our community has been overwhelming and consistent: a new login.

We set to work right away to bring all our members a new, secure login method that doesn’t require a Yahoo account, and we’re thrilled that the time has come to begin migrating members to the new login.

Due to the massive number of account holders at Flickr, this process will take a little time, but over the next few weeks, we’ll introduce more and more Flickr members to our new login.

What to expect.

The first page of the login experience has already been updated with a new look, but you will continue to log in to your Flickr account with your Yahoo credentials as you always have until the rollout reaches you.

Once the update is available to you, you’ll be led through a simple process that will allow you to select your new login email address and a new password.

Initially, you’ll be required to use either your Yahoo sign-in email address or your primary contact email address. If you like, you can update the primary address by following these instructions. The address you choose will be the only email address used by your Flickr account, for both login and all correspondence. In the near future, you’ll be able to change the address you’ve chosen in your account settings.

Please make sure you have access to your Yahoo login credentials so your login upgrade goes smoothly. If you need help recovering your account or accessing your current login credentials, visit our help pages.

We hope you love this new, simpler login experience. We’re still hard at work on performance and stability improvements across the site (as discussed here), but we’re delighted to check this key item off our members’ wish lists.