How to Set Up Shopify New Customer Accounts (2026)

Shopify customer accounts setup changed completely in 2026. Shopify deprecated legacy accounts in February, and if your store still runs on the old email-and-password login, you're on borrowed time. A final sunset date is coming later this year, and when it hits, legacy templates get locked — no more edits, no more updates, and eventually no more access.

The good news: Shopify's new customer accounts are genuinely better. Passwordless login, built-in self-serve returns, saved payment methods, and B2B company profiles all come standard. The bad news: migration isn't automatic, your old Liquid customizations won't carry over, and there are a few gotchas that trip up merchants who rush the switch. This guide walks you through the full setup — whether you're migrating from legacy or starting fresh.

What Changed With Shopify's New Customer Accounts

Legacy accounts worked like most e-commerce logins: customers created an account with an email and password, then logged in on a page you could customize with Liquid code. Simple, familiar, and fully customizable.

New customer accounts replace all of that. Instead of passwords, customers enter their email and receive a one-time 6-digit verification code. No password to forget, no reset emails, no "I can't log in" support tickets. If your store offers Shop Pay, customers can also sign in with their Shop account automatically.

The other major shift is where accounts live. Legacy account pages were part of your theme — you edited them in Liquid like any other template. New account pages are hosted by Shopify on a separate subdomain. You can't edit the HTML directly. Customization happens through app blocks and Customer Account UI Extensions instead.

What you gain: passwordless login, self-serve returns, order reordering, store credit, saved payment methods, and social sign-in through Google and Facebook. What you lose: direct Liquid access to the account page template.

How to Set Up Shopify Customer Accounts (3 Steps)

Setting up Shopify's new customer accounts takes about five minutes. Go to Settings → Customer accounts, select "New customer accounts," configure your sign-in options, and save. Here's the detailed walkthrough.

1. Go to Settings → Customer accounts in your Shopify admin. You'll see the option to choose between "New customer accounts" and "Legacy customer accounts" (if your store still has legacy enabled).
2. Select "New customer accounts" and click Save. This activates passwordless login immediately. Every customer who visits your store will now see the email-and-code flow instead of the traditional login form.
3. Configure your sign-in options. Under the same settings page, you can enable "Sign in with Shop" (on by default if you accept Shop Pay) and add Google or Facebook social sign-in. Social login reduces friction further — customers tap one button instead of waiting for an email code.

After saving, test the flow yourself. Open your store in an incognito window, click the account icon, enter your email, and confirm you receive the 6-digit code. Check that the code arrives within a few seconds — delays usually mean your email domain has deliverability issues, not a Shopify problem.

How Do You Customize New Customer Account Pages?

Out of the box, Shopify's new account page shows order history, profile info, addresses, and return requests. It's clean but basic. Most merchants want more — loyalty points, wishlists, subscription management, or custom fields.

Since you can't edit the page with Liquid, customization works through app blocks. Go to Settings → Customer accounts → Customize to open the visual editor. From there, you can add blocks from any installed app that supports Customer Account UI Extensions.

Shopify lists over 800 apps that integrate with the new account system. A few common additions:

• Loyalty programs — show points balances and redemption options directly on the account page
• Subscription management — let customers pause, skip, or cancel subscriptions without contacting support
• Wishlists — display saved products for easy repurchasing
• Custom profile fields — collect birthday, phone number, or preferences that legacy accounts handled through registration forms

The visual editor works like the theme editor: drag blocks to rearrange them, toggle them on or off, and preview changes before publishing. No code required for most setups. If you're also customizing your order and checkout flow, tools like EasySell let you build custom order forms with built-in upsells and fraud prevention — a separate layer from customer accounts but part of the same buying experience.

Set Up B2B Company Profiles

If you sell wholesale, new customer accounts are mandatory — Shopify's B2B features only work with the new account system. B2B customers must log in through new customer accounts to access wholesale catalogs, company-specific pricing, and net payment terms. (For the full B2B catalog walkthrough, see our B2B catalog setup guide.)

Here's how the structure works: a company is the parent organization. Under each company, you create one or more company locations — each with its own shipping address, billing address, tax ID, payment terms, and pricing. Each location has contacts — the individual people who log in and place orders.

To create a company, go to Customers → Companies → Add company. Enter the company name, assign a main contact (an existing customer or a new one), and add at least one location. You can assign a specific catalog to each company location, so different wholesale customers see different prices for the same products.

If you want wholesale customers to request access themselves instead of you creating every account manually, install the Shopify Forms app. You can create a wholesale application form that automatically generates the company, location, and customer profile when submitted. You review and approve each request from your admin.

Migrate From Legacy Accounts Without Breaking Things

Migration is where most merchants get tripped up. Switching from legacy to new accounts isn't just flipping a toggle — there are real consequences to plan for.

Your customers won't notice a password change. Existing customers don't need to "migrate" their accounts. The next time they log in, they'll see the email-and-code flow instead of the password form. Their order history, addresses, and saved information carry over automatically. But they will need to get used to checking email for a code on every login. Some customers — especially older demographics — find this frustrating. Community forums have consistent reports of this being a pain point.

Your Liquid customizations won't transfer. This is the biggest migration risk. If you added custom registration fields, injected tracking pixels on the account page, or built a customized account dashboard in Liquid, none of that carries over. You'll need to rebuild using Customer Account UI Extensions or third-party apps. Audit your legacy account templates before you switch.

Test critical app functions first. Some older apps rely on the legacy account page to render their features. Before switching, check that your loyalty app, subscription app, and any other account-dependent tools support the new system. Most major apps have updated, but smaller or niche apps might not have.

A safe migration sequence:

1. Audit your current legacy account page — list every customization, custom field, and app block
2. Verify each app supports new customer accounts (check the app's documentation or contact support)
3. Rebuild any custom registration fields using a compatible app
4. Switch to new customer accounts in Settings
5. Test login, ordering, returns, and every app function in your account page
6. Monitor support tickets for the first two weeks — watch for confused customers

Enable Saved Payment Methods and Self-Serve Returns

Two features that come free with new customer accounts but need manual activation:

Saved payment methods. Under Settings → Customer accounts, enable "Saved payment methods" to let customers store their card details for faster checkout on repeat purchases. This is particularly valuable for stores with high repeat purchase rates — returning customers skip the card entry step entirely.

Self-serve returns. Go to Settings → Customer accounts and enable return requests. Customers can then initiate a return directly from their order history page without emailing your support team. You define your return policy (time window, eligible items, return reasons), and customers submit requests that you approve or deny from your admin. For most stores, this cuts return-related support tickets by half or more.

Both features work automatically once enabled. No app installation or custom code needed.

Handle Common Post-Migration Issues

Even with careful planning, a few issues pop up consistently after migration:

Customers redirected to wrong login page. Some merchants report that customers get sent to the new account login even after switching back to legacy, or vice versa. Clear your theme cache and check that your theme's account links point to /account (not a hardcoded legacy URL). If you use a custom domain for your account page, verify the DNS settings haven't changed.

Email codes landing in spam. The 6-digit verification code comes from Shopify's email infrastructure, not your domain. Some customers' email providers flag it as suspicious. You can't control this directly, but you can add a note on your login page telling customers to check their spam folder. Enabling social sign-in (Google/Facebook) gives customers an alternative that bypasses email entirely.

Apps not rendering on the account page. If an app block doesn't appear after migration, the app likely needs an update to support Customer Account UI Extensions. Check for app updates first, then contact the developer if the issue persists.

The migration deadline hasn't been announced yet, but Shopify has made it clear that legacy accounts are reaching end of life in 2026. Merchants who switch now get to troubleshoot on their own timeline instead of scrambling when the sunset date drops. Start with the audit, test the flow, and make the switch before it's forced on you. If you're setting up a brand new store, our Shopify store launch checklist covers customer accounts alongside everything else you need to go live.