How to Download Your Photos Before Flickr Deletes Them
If you have more than 1,000 photos stored in Flickr’s free tier, the company will start deleting them on March 12. Here’s how to download and organize your pics before they’re gone.
By Jason Cohen
It’s been a tumultuous few years for Flickr. Once a go-to online photo service, it’s been largely eclipsed by Instagram and rival services like Google Photos. Turmoil at previous owner Yahoo didn’t help its prospects, and Flickr was sold to SmugMug last spring.
In a bid to encourage Flickr Pro subscriptions, SmugMug lowered the amount of free storage from 1TB of data to just 1,000 photos. What if you have more than 1,000 photos? Flickr was set to start deleting them on Feb. 5, starting with your oldest photos first. But based on feedback and “complications some members experienced when downloading photos” on Feb. 5, Flickr has now extended the deadline to March 12.
The good news is that there are plenty of alternatives to Flickr. Google Photos offers unlimited storage if you keep your photos to 16 megapixels or less, while Amazon Photos offers unlimited storage to Prime members. Don’t lose those Flickr snaps; here’s how to download your photos from Flickr before they get deleted.
Download Individual Flickr Photos
The easiest way to save your photos is to simply download them as individual files. On Flickr.com, navigate to your Camera Roll (You > Camera Roll on the top navigation menu) and select any photos you wish to save. A pop-up menu will appear at the bottom of the screen. Select Download to create a zip file.
Speed up the process by clicking select all. Or, hold the Shift key and click on the first photo and last photo you want. Everything in the middle will be highlighted and available for a quick download.
Download Full Flickr Albums
If you have thousands of photos to save, downloading individual shots is an impractical method. Flickr only allows you to download 500 photos at one time, so it is best to download by album.
Go to the Albums page and hover over the album you wish to download. Click the download icon to get a zip file on your computer.
Request Flickr Data
Flickr also lets you request all your data at once — photos, metadata, comments, and location data. Click your profile picture in the top-right corner and select Settings. At the bottom of the Personal Information tab will be a button that says “Request my Flickr data.” Flickr will inform you what email address this information will be sent to, but you can change it if you have a preferred destination.
Depending on how many photos you have, it could take some time before you receive the files in your inbox. They’ll arrive as zip files, with a maximum of 500 photos in each.
Automate the Process With IFTTT
Don’t want to deal with this task? Use IFTTT to automate the whole process. Many Applets will automatically push your photos from Flickr to a different service, including 500px, Dropbox, and Google Drive. Browse through the site and see which option will work best for you.
Read more: You don’t have to be a professional to take top-notch photos. Follow these simple pointers to improve the quality of your snapshots.
Originally published at www.pcmag.com.
