Less than a year after it introduced the ability to automatically upload photos from your hard drive, Flickr is removing the feature from free accounts. Flickr users will now need to pay a monthly subscription fee to Flickr Pro to use the Flickr Uploadr desktop tool, a move that effectively marks the death of Yahoo’s service as a competitor to Google Photos.
Flickr overhauled its product last May, releasing updated Flickr 4.0 apps and introducing a helpful Camera Roll tool that organized photos in reverse chronological order, but it was Uploadr that made Yahoo’s photo-hosting service a particularly enticing prospect in a sea of competitors. After getting it wrong for many years, last year’s redesign made Flickr once again a service worth using, but by putting Uploadr out of the reach of free users, Flickr is taking one step back.
The service is currently offering a coupon for 30 percent off the annual $49.99 subscription fee, but users can instead just head over to Google Photos, where they can use a similar photo upload tool — for free.
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