Guides · Updated 2026-09-24

How to upload photos to Flickr from a Mac

There are two ways to get photos from a Mac onto Flickr: the website's uploader, and an app that talks to the API. They differ most in what happens when something goes wrong halfway through a large batch, which on Flickr is a matter of when, not if, because Flickr limits how fast an application may send.

Step by step

  1. 1. For a handful of photos, use the website

    On flickr.com, choose Upload, drop the files, set title, tags, albums and privacy for the batch, and press Upload. It works well for a few dozen photos. It does not warn about a file you already uploaded, and a failed file in a batch is easy to miss.

  2. 2. For a batch you want to watch, use an app that shows each file

    Photo Stream Assistant's Upload, in the sidebar, takes dropped files or chosen ones, lets you set title, description, tags, privacy and an album for the batch, and shows every file with its own state: waiting, uploading, done, failed with Flickr's message.

  3. 3. Let a refusal wait rather than stop

    When Flickr says it is not taking a file right now, the app waits as long as it is told and tries the same file again, up to a few times. A file Flickr refuses outright, such as an unsupported type, is marked and the batch moves on. Nothing already sent is sent again.

  4. 4. Check the summary, then send only what is missing

    At the end the dialog says how many made it and which did not. Only the failed files stay in the list, so pressing Upload again sends just those. Before any send, a file whose title is already in your library is flagged as a likely duplicate, with a tick to send it anyway.

Questions

Why did my upload stop after some of the files?

Most often Flickr's rate limit: it refuses uploads for a while when an application sends too fast, and a tool that treats that refusal as final gives up on the rest. The fix is to wait and retry the same file, which a good uploader does on its own. The other common cause is a file type Flickr does not accept, which no retry will change.

Does uploading twice create two photos?

Yes. Flickr does not detect duplicates on upload through the API, so a batch sent twice is two copies of everything. That is why an uploader should keep track of what already went through, and warn when a title is already in your library.

Is there a size limit?

Flickr's limits depend on the account: Free accounts are capped in photo size and total storage, Pro accounts take originals up to Flickr's per-file maximum. The app refuses a file over its own generous cap before sending and reports Flickr's answer for anything else.

Is upload free in the app?

Yes, with no per-batch limit. Uploading is something flickr.com does itself, and the rule for the free app is that anything the website offers stays free.

In the app

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Written by Stéphane Monier, who built Photo Stream Assistant for a library of 138,000 photos. Also available as plain Markdown.