How to Keep Two Flickr Accounts Apart on One PC With Separate Browser Profiles

How do you keep two Flickr accounts apart on one PC? #

Give each account its own browser profile, and sign in to only one Flickr account inside it. A profile is a separate set of stored browser data. Chrome's help says profiles keep bookmarks, history, passwords and other settings separate, and Chromium's documentation lists cookies among profile data. Firefox containers do something similar inside one window, keeping cookies, localStorage, indexedDB and caches apart. Flickr's Help Center lists Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Edge as supported browsers and says cookies are what keep you signed in, which is why separating cookies matters.

What does a profile keep apart, and what does it not? #

The entries come from the Chrome, Chromium and Mozilla pages listed below. A profile is a browser-side separation and nothing more. Do not confuse it with state partitioning, which Mozilla describes as keeping a separate storage bucket for every top-level website so that embedded third parties cannot follow you across sites. That limits cross-site tracking and does not turn one profile into two. A private window and a VPN are different tools, compared in the guide to VPNs, private windows and profiles.

Step by step: one Chrome profile per Flickr account #

1. Create the profile. Open Chrome, select the Profile icon at the top right, choose Add Chrome profile, then pick a name, photo and colour scheme.
2. Decide on a Google sign-in. Chrome treats signing in with a Google Account as optional. For client or team accounts, decide whose Google Account it should be, or skip it.
3. Name and colour it so you cannot open the wrong one. A pattern is below.
4. Open flickr.com in that profile and sign in with that account's email address and password. Check that the real name Flickr shows is the one you expect.
5. Keep cookies on. Flickr says cookies keep you signed in. Do not set the browser to clear them on exit, and note that in the UK, EU and Brazil Flickr's cookie popup returns when cookies are cleared.
6. Have the mailbox ready. A verification code or reset link goes to that account's own email address. Why Flickr logs you out or asks for a code covers failures.
7. Repeat for each account, and switch between them from the Profile icon.
8. Uploader users: the Auto-Uploadr, for Pro members, links to whichever account you are signed in to when its code is generated. Open that page from the right profile.

Firefox's equivalent is containers, which Mozilla describes as lightweight persistent contexts that keep sites isolated from one another. Other browsers have their own profile features under their own menus.

Naming, hand-over and backups #

Naming. Put the purpose first, then the account, then the owner, for example Studio / flickr.com/acme / Linh. Give each client or purpose its own colour. In Chrome you can change the name, photo or colour later under Profile, Manage Chrome profiles, then More, then Edit.

Hand-over. Flickr documents no team roles for an account, so hand-over means moving the account to a new accountable owner, not passing a login around. Flickr says never to share your password. Change the login email through Support and the password instead, as set out in the team access guide. Do not zip, email or sync a profile folder: it holds cookies, and Chromium warns that several Chrome instances cannot share one user data directory at the same time.

Backups. Two different things need backing up.

• The account's content. Open Settings, then Your Flickr Data, then Request My Flickr Data. Flickr says the links are time-sensitive and expire. For smaller jobs you can select up to 500 items in the Camera Roll and create a zip, and Flickr says Free accounts are limited to 1024px for bulk downloads.
• The profile folder. Chromium says each profile is a subfolder of the user data directory, which for stable Chrome on Windows defaults to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data. Copy it only to storage you control.

Deleting a profile erases its bookmarks, history, passwords and other settings from your computer, according to Chrome's help. The Flickr account lives with Flickr, and you can sign in again if you still have its email address and password. Because Flickr accounts cannot be merged and photos cannot be moved directly, keep a copy of the content before you remove anything.

When ordinary profiles are not enough #

No setup promises how Flickr will treat an account. These are conveniences for staying organised, not protections.

If a profile misbehaves #

• Signed out whenever the browser closes. Cookies are disabled or the browser clears them on exit, which are the two causes Flickr's pages give.
• The wrong account is in the wrong profile. Sign out, check the profile name, sign in to the right account and rename the profile.
• Pages or sign-in act strangely. Flickr names extensions and stale cache. Disable extensions in that profile, clear the cache, or try another supported browser.
• A code goes to a mailbox nobody reads. Contact Support about changing the login email, or use the Account Recovery Process if the old mailbox is gone.
• A colleague needs access. Do not copy the profile folder. Use the team access guide above.

Where ADSSPEED fits #

ADSSPEED is a desktop app for Windows and macOS for people who have outgrown hand-made browser profiles. It manages many profiles at once: each keeps its own cookies, local data and browser settings, a proxy can be set per profile or assigned to many profiles in bulk, and profiles can be opened, stopped and organised in bulk. Data stays on your own computer, and Android phone profiles cover tasks that need a mobile app. It does not change Flickr's rules or how Flickr treats an account. To install it, see installing ADSSPEED on Windows. ADSSPEED is not affiliated with Flickr.