How do the `ispublic`, `isfriend` and `isfamily` flags work in the Flickr API?

Tagged with flickr
Posted 11 October 2024

When you look up a photo in the Flickr API, you get a visibility object with three booleans. For example, this is from a flickr.photos.getInfo response:

<visibility ispublic="1" isfriend="0" isfamily="0"/>

You get similar attributes in the APIs that return a collection of photos. For example, this is from a flickr.people.getPhotos response:

<photo id="52559406969" ispublic="1" isfriend="0" isfamily="0" […]/>

I wanted to understand when and how these flags are set, so I ran an experiment with different configurations.

Methodology

I used two photos in the Flickr Foundation account:

Photo 53866697336 is public
Photo 53972588159 is not public, and I tried a variety of privacy settings

Then I looked up these photos in the API with seven configurations:

As a member of the public (i.e. only with API authentication)
As the Flickr Foundation account (i.e. the photo owner)
As another Flickr member:
- with no social connection
- who was marked as “friend”
- who was marked as “family”
- who was marked as “friend” and “family”
- who was blocked

For the “other Flickr member”, I used my personal account.

Conclusions

If a photo is public, the visibility is always:
```
<visibility ispublic="1" isfriend="0" isfamily="0"/>
```
This is true even if the photo viewer and photo owner are marked as friend/family.
If a photo is not-public (friends and/or family), the visibility is one of:
```
<visibility ispublic="0" isfriend="1" isfamily="0"/>
<visibility ispublic="0" isfriend="0" isfamily="1"/>
<visibility ispublic="0" isfriend="1" isfamily="1"/>
```
depending on whether the photo is visible to friends only, family only, or friends and family.

These visibility values are the same for the photo’s owner.
If a photo is private, the visibility is:
```
<visibility ispublic="0" isfriend="0" isfamily="0"/>
```
This is only visible to the photo’s owner.

Results

In case they’re helpful, here’s my complete list of results for all combinations of privacy setting and viewer.

Results

looking up as photo owner
  private:
    {'id': 'private', 'ispublic': '0', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  friends:
    {'id': 'private', 'ispublic': '0', 'isfriend': '1', 'isfamily': '0'}
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  family:
    {'id': 'private', 'ispublic': '0', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '1'}
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  friends and family:
    {'id': 'private', 'ispublic': '0', 'isfriend': '1', 'isfamily': '1'}
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

looking up as public:
  private:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  friends:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  family:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  friends and family:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

looking up as other member (not contact):
  private:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  friends:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  family:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  friends and family:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

looking up as other member (friend only):
  private:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  friends:
    {'id': 'private', 'ispublic': '0', 'isfriend': '1', 'isfamily': '0'}
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  family:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  friends and family:
    {'id': 'private', 'ispublic': '0', 'isfriend': '1', 'isfamily': '1'}
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

looking up as other member (friend and family):
  private:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  friends:
    {'id': 'private', 'ispublic': '0', 'isfriend': '1', 'isfamily': '0'}
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  family:
    {'id': 'private', 'ispublic': '0', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '1'}
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  friends and family:
    {'id': 'private', 'ispublic': '0', 'isfriend': '1', 'isfamily': '1'}
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

looking up as other member (family only):
  private:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  friends:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  family:
    {'id': 'private', 'ispublic': '0', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '1'}
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  friends and family:
    {'id': 'private', 'ispublic': '0', 'isfriend': '1', 'isfamily': '1'}
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

looking up as other member (blocked):
  private:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  friends:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  family:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

  friends and family:
    {'id': 'public',  'ispublic': '1', 'isfriend': '0', 'isfamily': '0'}

How do the ispublic, isfriend and isfamily flags work in the Flickr API?

Methodology

Conclusions

Results

How do the `ispublic`, `isfriend` and `isfamily` flags work in the Flickr API?