Shopify customer accounts: a pre-holiday upgrade checklist for legacy stores

Shopify customer accounts now come in one supported version. On 26 February 2026 Shopify deprecated legacy customer accounts, the older email and password sign-in. Stores still on legacy accounts get no new features or technical support for them, and Shopify says a final sunset date will be announced later in 2026.

If your store still uses legacy accounts, the question is when to upgrade and how to do it without breaking sign-in, returns or automations in the busiest weeks of the year. This guide shows you how to check which version you use, what changes for shoppers, the checks to run before you switch, and how to decide between upgrading now and waiting until January.

What changed, and what stays the same

Shopify's comparison page sets out the two versions:

• Customer accounts (the current version): shoppers enter their email and get a one-time 6-digit code. No password. Anyone can sign in without a separate registration step, and a new email creates a new customer profile in your admin.
• Legacy customer accounts: shoppers sign in with an email and password, and must register on a separate page or accept an invite first.

Order history, order status and saved addresses work in both. The features only the current version has are self-serve returns, store credit, a Buy again button for reordering, saved payment methods (only for stores on Shopify's Enterprise offering), B2B (depending on your plan), Markets support and a redirect to your homepage after sign-in.

According to Shopify's customer accounts overview, sign-in sessions last up to 365 days, and a signed-in customer's saved details fill in at checkout. You can also offer Sign in with Shop if Shop Pay is active, plus Google and Facebook sign-in.

Check which version your store uses

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Customer accounts.
2. If you see a banner saying you're using legacy customer accounts, you're on the old version. The banner has the upgrade button and a Help me upgrade option that starts a Sidekick to-do list.
3. In the Sign-in links section, check that Show sign-in links is on. Without it, customers can't sign in from your store.

Six things to check before you switch

Shopify's upgrade guide lists these limits and steps:

1. Theme customizations. Open your theme editor, pick Legacy customer accounts from the page menu and review each template (account, activate account, addresses, login, order, register, reset password). Also look in Edit code under templates > customers. Customizations don't carry over. Note the ones you still need, such as a loyalty or subscription link.
2. Custom sign-in screens. Shopify redirects legacy URLs such as /account/login to the new accounts, including hard-coded links. A custom sign-in or registration form built in a modal or on a separate page may need removing from your theme first.
3. Shopify Flow workflows. After the upgrade, the Customer account enabled trigger fires when a customer signs in to the new accounts for the first time, and doesn't fire for customers who already had a legacy account. The Customer account disabled trigger isn't supported.
4. Customer segments. A customer's customer_account_status changes to ENABLED the first time they sign in. Segments built on DISABLED, INVITED or DECLINED will shrink as people sign in. Sidekick doesn't check workflows or segments, so review both yourself.
5. Sender email. Sign-in codes are sent from your sender email address. Make sure it's current and that you can access it.
6. Domain. By default, account pages sit on a shopify.com address with your store ID. You can connect a subdomain such as account.your-store.com before you upgrade. A new subdomain can take up to 48 hours to verify, and you then set it as the primary domain for customer accounts. From that point your order status page uses it, even before the upgrade. If you use social sign-in or your own identity provider, add the new domain in that provider's settings first, then change it in Shopify, or customers can't sign in until you do.

Two more limits to know: you can use only one domain for account pages across all markets, and you can't add blocks to the sign-in page, only your logo, colors, fonts and a brand image.

The upgrade, in order

The upgrade guide sets out nine steps. In practice they group into four:

1. Work on a copy. Go to Settings > Checkout, and in Configurations click Duplicate next to your current configuration. Checkout and customer accounts share brand settings, so check your logo and colors on every page in the checkout and accounts editor.
2. Replace what you noted. In the editor, click Apps to see installed apps that already offer blocks for the Orders, Order status, Profile or Accounts pages. For anything else, filter the Shopify App Store by Works with: Customer accounts.
3. Publish and test before you switch. Publishing the configuration doesn't move shoppers yet: your store and checkout still link to legacy accounts. It does make the new configuration's brand and app changes live in checkout straight away, so check checkout first. Copy the address in the URL field under Settings > Customer accounts, open it in a new tab, and sign in with a test customer. Try every sign-in option you offer.
4. Upgrade. Click Upgrade in the banner on Settings > Customer accounts. Shopify lets you revert within 30 days.

Upgrade now or after the holidays?

Decide on what your store depends on.

• Upgrade before peak if your theme has few account customizations, you want self-serve returns or store credit for January returns, or customers regularly email you about password resets. Leave time to test.
• Wait until January if your account pages carry custom code, a loyalty or subscription portal you haven't replaced, or Flow workflows built on account triggers. A rushed switch in November puts those at risk when order volume is highest.

If you wait but still want self-serve returns this season, Shopify's self-serve returns setup guide offers a middle route: turn on self-serve returns and cancellations in your admin, then add the customer accounts URL to your footer, refund policy or another page. Your store and checkout keep using legacy accounts, and customers use that link to request a return. Self-serve returns themselves don't work with legacy accounts. Our Shopify return policy guide covers the return rules to set alongside it.

A worked example

Say you sell candles and still use legacy accounts. This is a hypothetical store.

Before: the login template has a custom "Join our rewards" link added in code, a Flow workflow tags customers when Customer account enabled fires, and a segment called "Invited, not active" drives a reminder email. Return requests come in by email.

The plan:

• Week 1: duplicate the configuration, add the rewards app's block to the Profile page, connect account.your-candle-store.com, and check the sender email.
• Week 1: rewrite the Flow workflow so new tags don't depend on a first sign-in, and retire the "Invited, not active" segment, since the new accounts let anyone sign in without an invite.
• Week 2: publish, test the account URL with a test customer and with Google sign-in, then upgrade and turn on self-serve returns.

After: customers sign in with a code, start returns from their order, and see the rewards block in their profile. If anything breaks, the store can revert within 30 days.

Common mistakes

• Switching domains in the wrong order. Changing the account subdomain in Shopify before updating Google, Facebook or identity provider settings locks those customers out until you fix it.
• Trusting old segment numbers. Account status values change as customers sign in, so segment sizes and any email flows built on them will move.
• Forgetting the header. Your theme decides where the sign-in link appears. The account component, built into the latest Horizon themes, lets shoppers sign in without leaving the store and, once you've upgraded, can show an email marketing opt-in checkbox, controlled in Settings > Checkout. See our email list building guide for how that fits with your other signup points.
• Expecting accounts to fix order questions. Accounts give customers their full order details, but tracking, delivery notices and the page itself are covered in our order status page checks.

Pre-upgrade checklist

• Version checked under Settings > Customer accounts, and sign-in links on.
• Legacy templates and code reviewed, customizations to keep written down.
• Flow workflows and customer segments reviewed by hand.
• Sender email current.
• Subdomain connected, with social sign-in or identity provider settings updated first.
• Configuration duplicated, app blocks added, brand checked on every page.
• Published configuration tested from the account URL with every sign-in option.
• Upgrade date chosen with enough time before peak, or set for January.

Using signed-in status on-site

Once more customers sign in, you can treat them differently on-site. If you use Atomato, the Customer Segments setting on each message, included on every plan including the free Starter plan, can show a message only to signed-in customers, only to shoppers who aren't signed in, or to Shopify customer segments you pick. For example, a NotiFeed message for signed-in customers can point them to their orders page to track a gift, while a different message greets shoppers who aren't signed in. On Starter (Free), a campaign shows one message, so use a NotiFeed for one and a NotiPop for the other. On Scale ($49.99 a month) and Enterprise+, one campaign can hold both. Segment messages only reach shoppers who are signed in, so pair them with a message for everyone else. See how to show a campaign to specific customers.

Common questions

Do customers lose their order history when I upgrade?

Shopify's overview says that a customer with a profile in your admin already has an account and can sign in with that profile's email to see their orders and account information.

Do customers need a password with the new accounts?

No. They enter their email and get a one-time 6-digit code. You can also offer Sign in with Shop, Google or Facebook. On Shopify Plus you can connect your own identity provider instead.

Can I go back to legacy accounts?

Yes, within 30 days of upgrading, according to Shopify's upgrade guide.

When will legacy customer accounts stop working?

Shopify hasn't published the date yet. Its February 2026 changelog says a final sunset date will be announced later in 2026, so check the Shopify changelog before you plan around it.

Next step

Open Settings > Customer accounts today and check which version you use. If it's legacy, start the Sidekick to-do list or duplicate your configuration, work through the checklist above, and pick an upgrade date that leaves time to test before your busiest week, or put it in the calendar for January.

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