Flickr makes upload tool only available for paid Pro accounts

Photo service Flickr has made a policy change, making the Auto-Uploadr tool only available to Flickr Pro members with a paid account. Users of free accounts will therefore have to upload their photos manually from now on.

Flickr has been giving free account users a terabyte of storage space since 2013. That made the photo service interesting for users who want to back up their photo collection without paying for a storage service. With Flickr Uploadr, a program for Windows and Mac, folders with photos could be automatically synchronized with the photo service. Auto upload also worked from Android and iOS devices for all users.

That will now change; Flickr has decided that the Auto-Uploadr feature can only be used by members with a paid Flickr Pro account. Such an account costs $5.99 per month or $49.99 per year, although Flickr is now temporarily offering a 30% discount. Pro accounts, like the free accounts, have a terabyte of storage, but are free of ads.

By making the upload tool only available to paying users, Flickr seems to be taking a step back and making it more difficult for the service to compete with Google Photos, for example. Google’s photo service also has a desktop upload tool, which is available to all users. Google offers unlimited storage space for compressed photos with a resolution of up to 16 megapixels.