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Helium Customer Fields Alternative: 6 Shopify Checks Before Migrating

Moving from Helium Customer Fields? Check six Shopify requirements for New Customer Accounts, from metafield storage to account extensions and consent.

8 min read

If you’re moving off Helium Customer Fields, AccountCraft gives you the most direct replacement path for merchants on Shopify New Customer Accounts. It writes customer data straight to Shopify customer metafields and renders every form through official Customer Account UI Extensions, so your fields, registration forms, and consent capture keep working under Shopify’s current system.

TL;DR:

  • Shopify’s New Customer Accounts require official Customer Account UI Extensions for account forms, with custom fields stored in customer metafields rather than vendor databases.
  • Before migration, export Helium field names, namespaces, and values, map each to Shopify metafields, and choose repeatable lists for fields with multiple entries.
  • Check access scopes customer_read_customers and customer_write_customers first when metafield writes fail, then test profile edits, order history, and segmentation on staging accounts.
  • AccountCraft records consent through Shopify’s Customer Privacy API, but merchants remain responsible for compliance; metafield declarations and protected data approvals may require a developer.
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Table of Contents

Why New Customer Accounts changes how you should replace Helium

Shopify has shifted stores toward New Customer Accounts, moving away from legacy customer accounts and the theme-based registration pages many merchants built around apps like Helium Customer Fields. That shift matters because theme-level edits to account pages and classic Liquid templates are increasingly incompatible with the new system. Instead, Shopify supports customer account UI extensions as the sanctioned way to add forms, fields, and custom pages inside New Customer Accounts.

The other change is where your data lives. Rather than storing custom customer fields in a third-party database, Shopify treats metafields in customer accounts as the canonical place for that information. Metafields written this way stay visible in the Shopify admin, remain usable in Flow automations, and feed customer segmentation the way native fields do. Any replacement for Helium Customer Fields needs to work within these two constraints: extensions for rendering, metafields for storage. An app that skips either one will eventually hit a wall as Shopify continues retiring legacy account behavior.

Why New Customer Accounts changes how you should replace Helium — overview diagram

Evaluation checklist: what any Helium alternative must do

Before picking a replacement, it helps to judge candidates against a fixed list of technical requirements rather than a feature list alone. Here’s what matters most.

  • Writes directly to Shopify customer metafields and supports the protected customer data scopes required to read and write that information.
  • Uses official Customer Account UI Extensions with the right extension targets, including profile blocks, full-page targets, and order-page targets.
  • Provides editable fields, a registration form, repeatable lists for things like saved addresses or vehicles, and a wishlist component.
  • Captures consent tied to Shopify’s Customer Privacy API and records that consent inside Shopify rather than in a separate log.
  • Supports conditional rendering based on customer tag, metafield value, market, B2B status, or account age, along with translations for multi-market stores.
  • Avoids storing customer data in an external, proprietary database, or documents clearly where it does.

Pro Tip: Ask any app vendor directly whether customer data is written to Shopify metafields or to a database the vendor controls. The answer determines how portable your data stays if you switch apps again.

How AccountCraft covers the checklist (feature mapping)

AccountCraft binds every customer-facing field to a Shopify customer metafield and renders the result on New Customer Accounts pages using official UI extensions, which lines up directly with the checklist above. Instead of a single rigid template, we built AccountCraft around a Block Builder that lets merchants assemble account pages from 14 block types:

  • Text, banner, button, card, and image blocks for layout and messaging.
  • Update form and single field blocks for editable customer data tied to metafields.
  • Record list blocks for repeatable data, such as multiple saved vehicles or pets.
  • A wishlist block for saved products.
  • SMS consent and privacy consent blocks for recording opt-ins.
  • Video, spacer, and divider blocks for page structure.

Repeatable record lists let a customer store more than one entry under a single data type, and the built-in wishlist works without a separate app. Conditional rendering lets you show or hide blocks by customer tag, metafield value, market, B2B status, or account age, and translations cover multi-language storefronts.

On consent, the privacy consent and SMS consent blocks record opt-in and opt-out choices through Shopify’s customer privacy framework. That gives merchants a built-in way to collect, record, and honor customer consent, though staying compliant with regional privacy law remains the merchant’s own responsibility. Every field and consent record lives inside Shopify customer metafields: there’s no separate customer database to maintain or secure.

Step-by-step migration checklist from Helium Customer Fields to a New Customer Accounts solution

Moving from Helium Customer Fields to a metafield-based setup goes smoothly when you follow a fixed sequence rather than improvising field by field.

  1. Export and document every existing Helium field, including its name, namespace, and current values.
  2. Map each field to a Shopify customer metafield, and decide which fields need repeatable lists versus single values.
  3. Enable New Customer Accounts in Shopify admin and choose the extension targets you need, such as profile, full-page, or order.
  4. Install AccountCraft and use the Block Builder to recreate your registration and profile forms, configuring update forms that write to the mapped metafields.
  5. Test metafield writes using staging customer accounts, then confirm the new fields appear correctly in Shopify admin, Flow, and segmentation.
  6. Set up consent capture through the Customer Privacy API hooks, and verify opt-ins and opt-outs record correctly through the consent blocks.
  7. Switch the new setup live, watch core flows like login and address edits closely, and keep a rollback plan ready in case any field fails to sync.

Pro Tip: Run the full migration on a staging theme first. A field that writes correctly in a test account can still fail silently if the store’s access scopes weren’t granted before launch.

Author perspective: practical implementation tips

The most common migration trap isn’t the Block Builder setup, it’s missing access scopes. If a metafield write fails during testing, check whether the app has been granted customer_read_customers and customer_write_customers before troubleshooting anything else.

Author perspective: practical implementation tips — overview diagram

Test the entire customer lifecycle, not just the registration form: profile edits, order history views, and whether new fields actually flow into marketing segmentation. Most gaps show up at the edges, not the happy path.

Decide early when you need a developer. Declaring metafields in your app’s TOML configuration and requesting protected data approvals is developer territory; building the actual account pages inside the Block Builder generally isn’t.

— Ivan Signorile

Try AccountCraft: install and next steps

Replacing Helium Customer Fields doesn’t require rebuilding your account pages from scratch or hiring a developer for every field change. We built AccountCraft so merchants can recreate registration forms, editable fields, and consent capture directly in the Block Builder, with every field writing to Shopify customer metafields instead of a separate database.

AccountCraft

There’s a free plan to start with, and paid Pro and Plus plans are billed through the Shopify App Store, where you can check current pricing. After installing, a practical first step is upgrading your account experience the way other merchants have when improving customer engagement: recreate your registration form in the Block Builder, test a few metafield writes on a staging account, and configure your consent blocks before going live.

  • Install AccountCraft free from the Shopify App Store.
  • Recreate your registration and profile forms using the Block Builder.
  • Test metafield writes and set up consent blocks before switching live.

Install AccountCraft from the Shopify App Store to get started.

FAQ

What is the best Helium Customer Fields alternative for Shopify?

AccountCraft is built specifically for Shopify’s New Customer Accounts and writes customer fields directly to Shopify metafields using official Customer Account UI Extensions. It covers registration forms, editable fields, repeatable lists, and a wishlist without needing a separate customer database.

Does Helium Customer Fields work with Shopify New Customer Accounts?

Helium Customer Fields was built around legacy customer accounts and theme-based registration pages, which are increasingly incompatible with New Customer Accounts. Merchants moving to the new system generally need an app built on Customer Account UI Extensions instead.

Where does customer data get stored when using a Helium alternative?

Apps built for New Customer Accounts should store custom fields in Shopify customer metafields rather than an external database. AccountCraft follows this pattern, keeping all customer data inside Shopify.

How much does AccountCraft cost?

AccountCraft offers a free plan, along with paid Pro and Plus plans billed through the Shopify App Store. Check the app listing for current pricing, since plan details are managed through Shopify rather than published separately.

Does AccountCraft make my store GDPR compliant?

AccountCraft helps collect, record, and honor customer consent through Shopify’s Customer Privacy API using its privacy consent and SMS consent blocks. Staying compliant with GDPR or other privacy law remains the merchant’s own responsibility, and this isn’t legal advice.

Sources

For implementation details, review Shopify’s documentation on customer account UI extensions, metafield writes, and the Customer Privacy API, along with AccountCraft’s own guides on restoring legacy UX and editable customer metafields.