You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.
Forum Discussion
Dropbox Apple Silicon (M1) install
Hi,
I recently purchased a MacBook Pro 13" with the M1 processor and I cannot seem to get a native install of Dropbox for this chipset. From searching the community, it seems like M1 support should be available in the latest installer. However, trying that plus the latest beta build all ask me to install Rosetta during installation. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks,
Warren
Hi all,
Native Apple silicon support is now fully available. All users with Apple silicon devices will receive the native version of Dropbox automatically. If you would like to update your device manually, you can do so by clicking on the latest Stable Build and downloading the Offline Installer (Apple Silicon) file. For more information, visit the Dropbox Help Center.If you need assistance with anything else, please feel free to create a new thread and our community team will be happy to assist.
This is outrageous. You guys in Dropbox really haven't been able to fix this already! The amount I pay for the premium dropbox service makes me wonder if its not time to change the service for another one. I love you guys but this is definitely not OK
It seams the Code-Base of dropbox ist not good. Usually its a matter of max. few days updating to universal with M1 and Intel Support.
to exaggerate: 1 click on Compile universal that it. Then fix the bugs and that's it. 1 week for an update that could have been done last summer with the Apple Silicon Dev Kit.
They just don't care or they are just Lazy.
Its a F***ing File sync App not a huge app like Photoshop. But even Adobe managed the M1 compatibility with most of their apps.
Agreed!
We've gone yet another couple of weeks with no news.
At this point I wonder whether this non-communication means Dropbox can't fix it or they are indeed just too lazy and won't do it until it's too late for most of us.
My dropbox is running out in 6 months, but if they continue barely communicating — and when they do, they're not saying anything relevant — I'll change to a different platform even before that time runs out.Get your act together, Dropbox! We are paying customers and you just leave us in the cold.
I'll be moving away from Dropbox if this isn't fixed soon. Brutal support for what is obviously a fast growing community of users. Having to rely on the web based version is so slow and unreliable when transferring large files. Why would I pay for a service I can't even filly utilize. Common guys, keep your clients happy.
What a shame of dropbox. I will also cancel my subscription, this is not acceptable nowadays!
Does anyone have a recommendation for dropbox alternatives, since we are all looking for one?
I would also like a native M1 app. As a workaround (and it is barely a workaround), I am using Transmit 5 (a native M1 Total Commander-like interface) that has manual sync and Dropbox support.
I'm with this crowd. Where is Apple M1 support? I bought my M1 Mac Mini 2 months ago. It's already May 2021. Seriously looking into alternatives at this point. Been a longtime user and paid subscriber.
- Hey, I’ve got my new M1 MBP today and was shocked that Dropbox has no native app, really not expected this.
Dear Dropbox team, please update to a native and less ressource consuming app. Currently Dropbox has the highest energy consumption on my MacBook.Backblaze has their backup client running natively now so we know it's not some API limitation on the new hardware from Apple. It'd be great just to get an update. Don't even need a timeline, just an acknowledgement that this is something being worked on.
Same here. I'm still waiting for an official M1 Dropbox app. Dropbox is not optimized and uses to much RAM
Just as a hint: The first request was from February 2021 and still nothing happened. You had now over 6months time (you know since 2020 that the M1 macboocs are on the way). From a company like dropbox I would expect to deliver such app- A timeline would be nice indeed. Otherwise Dropbox can just ‘stay in development’ for years on end.
Make it happen dropbox. It should already have been here a long time ago!We get it, your devs used 3rd party libraries libffi, libphyton and likely more - we get some of those weren't ready for Apple Silicon. However as I transition this week the ONLY app/service that is running all the time on my system under Rosetta, is Dropbox. Seriously, everything else on my system is already running native in either public releases or beta - all those devs/services and even HW devices dealt through their issues the last few months.
Is asking for a timeline for a beta too much - considering many of us are annual subscription customers?
It was *JUNE 2020* when Apple announced the transition, Nov 2020 when full toolkits were available. This has me wondering why new features like Paper were a priority over servicing the millions of PAYING customers where you've had sufficient time. You guys couldn't purchase a few dev systems early on? Seems more like poor product management and product planning vs developer resources.
I wish dropbox would give us a real answer, it can't be too hard to port it come on guys.
Any further updates on this? My Dropbox subscription is about to expire, and given the amount of resources the app used with my 2012 iMac, I will likely cancel my subscription if there isn't an AS/Universal app available soon.
I am asking as well at least some information about the development of M1 support. I know google drive for Mac is now in beta for M1 with workarounds, so at least people there let us know how the process is going on.
Macs have been running on ARM processors for almost a year. Does anyone know the expected release date for the native ARM version for Dropbox?
This is not a priority for Dropbox.
I'm getting used to working without the Dropbox app installed, as there are more efficient options available now that weren't when I started using Dropbox. I don't plan to wait any longer, I've adapted my workflows adequately to work without Dropbox Pro any longer.
- Hey. Can you please share which solution you implemented? I’m willing to leave Dropbox cause I can’t keep waiting another (paid) year for them to decide to make this work.
nell_wackwitz Try never.
I have been watching this thread closely for a while to see if anything happens, but as we know, no dice. I contacted their support in hopes to get to a Product Manager but no such luck.
I have logged an idea with Dropbox in the hopes that gets to the Product Team opposed to the front line support team.
👍👍👍👍 Please vote on the Idea: 👍👍👍👍
Threatening to leave or actually leaving a company is a deranged reply. The rally for DB to upgrade to MI native software has 3 votes (including mine). You can't expect a company to care about an issue if the customers do not.
Deranged? Strong words for customers' dissatisfaction with a company that has the reach and resources that Dropbox does, and has yet to provide users with even a beta to demonstrate that they are in some sort of a "rally", as you call it.
What other voice do customers have than their choice to either support or not support a company with their subscription investment? Nothing deranged about it to withdraw support after a while.And customers obviously *do* care, as you can see in this thread. But I do agree with you that upvoting this "idea" is also a voice that we have, so I also just upvoted it, even though I believe it to be a necessity, rather than an idea or feature.
A lot of moaning, but only 31 votes (including mine - I got my M1 today) to get Dropbox to port to M1.
Please go here and add your vote - you will see other ideas have much more support:
I agree on voting, but I also think this is not a feature request. Most users won't vote for this, because they don't even know what they are voting for. There are more requests that should not need a vote, they seem very obvious, for example:
- dark-mode, every OS and every App I use have these features, it's requested many times. Even now that Dropbox is basically a web-app running on the desktop Dark Mode this request is stil "In Review". It's like Dropbox is living in a cave :S (source)
- The overlay icons problem in Windows, it's basically a bug.. or at least a dirty hack from Dropbox (source)
In regard to M1 support, how can this be blocked as a 'suggestion', is Dropbox going to wait until it just breaks? (oh, wait they did that last year) (source ). The developers probably know that Rosetta 2, which is used as a temporary compatibility layer is just that: "a temporary compatibility layer" provided by Apple to give developers some time to port over to the new architecture, user should not need to vote to get this in the developers agenda!
My guess is that it is probably on the agenda, the question is: are we going to need to wait until it breaks, like last year.
The dropbox app on my MBA M1 took 1.5 GB from my RAM while it sits idle for more than an hour. Will follow up with a screenshot.
I uninstalled mine that I got using the default online installer and tried the recommended offline installation. The dropbox app alone still took about the same amount of RAM even if it's not syncing.
RAM consumed while idle
And from today we have also Adobe Illustrator ready for M1:
https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/illustrator-for-apple-silicon.html
for anyone that follows this thread please go to the "idea" link M1 native request (https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-ideas/Apple-Silicon-M1-Desktop-Sync-Compatibility/idi-p/527743 ) and vote.
Maybe, just maybe they start thinking about it
After more than a year of the Apple Silicon announcement and many months after Apple Silicon Macs have been released, Dropbox still doesn't provide a native version. It is now obvious to me that they have abandoned the Apple ecosystem. So I decided to abandon Dropbox. Today I found that Google Drive already has a Apple Silicon native version, and it supports all the functions I use with Dropbox, and I made the switch.
Goodbye Dropbox. You had your chances, but failed to deliver.
Just an FYI: I cancelled my "DropBox Pro" or whatever the h*ll they call it.
They had me since the day they first started pay services. (they had me before that, but that's neither here-nor-there).
I added up the amount I paid and found that Synology - sitting on my desk - was a better solution. They have ALL the same sharing capabilities and - OUTSIDE of "offsite" which I'm not worried about - is EASILY the same price.
Just my $.02
Jann
I agree there should be an announcement. But counter to everyone leaving dropbox for not providing an M1 native version, Dropbox runs just fine on an M1 Mac. I don't notice a single difference in the response or function of Droxbox from an Intel to an M1 Mac. And trust me, my Dropbox capacity is 50x the average user.
