What happens to a guest wishlist when the shopper logs in?
Guest wishlists and account wishlists are the same storage with different owners, and logging in merges them without shopper effort. This page explains the identification model, the merge rules, and the edge cases worth knowing for support conversations.
How guests are identified
A guest has no account, so Wishlist Hero creates their wishlist on first save and hands the shopper’s browser a reference to it. That reference is how the browser recognizes “this is my list” on every later visit:
- Same browser, later visit: the list reappears with everything saved
- Different browser or device, still logged out: a different reference, so a different list
No fingerprinting and no email required: the pairing is browser plus list reference.
What happens at login
When the shopper logs in, the app reconciles their guest list with their account list in one automatic merge:
- The shopper’s account list is found, or created if this is their first login with a list waiting.
- Every item from the guest list joins the account list.
- Duplicates collapse: a product saved as a guest and as a customer appears once, keeping its earliest save details.
- The browser reference is retired; from now on the account list is the single source, on every device.
The support scenarios
| Scenario | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Shopper saved as guest, logs in first time | Guest items become their account list |
| Shopper saved on phone as guest, logs in on desktop | Guest items from the phone merge at login; after that both devices show one list |
| Shopper logs out | The account list is theirs on login; the browser keeps its reference for any future guest session |
| Guest clears browser storage before logging in | The reference is gone, so that list is orphaned; saving again starts a fresh guest list |
If you require login
Stores using Require customers to login before using wishlist skip the guest phase entirely: every list belongs to an account from the first save. See Access modes.