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Forum Discussion
iOS 11 Files App iPad - waiting to download
Using the Files App on iOS 11 - on my 11.2 iPhone 7 Plus everything works perfectly. From the Files App I see thumbnail representation of Dropbox files, I tap the file (e.g. a PDF) and it downloads and opens. On my 9.7 iPad Pro also running 11.2 - same Dropbox account - same files - no thumbnails, and every file tap results in “Waiting to download” and a spinning circle forever.
Cleared cache, no Dropbox pin, turned off 2FA, deleted and reinstalled both Dropbox and Files App and same result. Contacted Dropbox Support and got boilerplate “use our app instead of Apple’s” mindless response. Apple support says it is a Dropbox issue. I just want it to work like it does on the phone.
Any suggestions?
Hey again! Just wanted to close the loop here and let y’all know that this has since been fixed as of 82.2, which has been available for a couple weeks. We do have a few additional fixes in the works, and those will likely roll out in the few releases as well.
Thanks everyone for your patience!
CC_JF
CC_JFDropbox Staff
Hey folks! iOS Engineer on the Files.app here.
We've unfortunately also noticed this on iOS 11.2. We're currently working on a fix, but in the meantime you should be able to get things back to normal by rebooting the device once by the standard method of just holding the power button, swiping to power off and turning the device back on (or, for iPhone X users to hold the volume up button and the right side button until the options show up!)
This should be fixed in a future release. In the meantime, we've noticed a lot of Files-related issues to be fixed in 11.2, so you should have a smoother experience overall after this first initial hiccup. Apologies for the inconvenience!
- CC_JF
Hey folks! I wanted to give a progress update on this here.
First and foremost thank you all for your patience while we continue to debug the issue. We have identified a fix and it should be out to everyone very soon.
For those who are experiencing this issue in the meantime, the only workaround is to restart the device. We find that this bug most commonly occurs when upgrading iOS to 11.2.x from 11.1 or 11.0, or in very rare situations when upgrading from release to release.
Once again, I personally apologize for the time it's taken to resolve this as it's been pretty tough to pin down and reproduce. I'll make sure to bump this thread again when it's on the store!
- CC_JF
Hey again! Just wanted to close the loop here and let y’all know that this has since been fixed as of 82.2, which has been available for a couple weeks. We do have a few additional fixes in the works, and those will likely roll out in the few releases as well.
Thanks everyone for your patience!
CC_JF
- Thanks so much for the reply! That’s such a relief :-)
- It’s not working for me...
Same issue
Same issue. I have the 10.5 iPad. My audio editor Ferrite uses Files to import audio from Dropbox. I can listen to my audio in Dropbox but Files won’t download it. I’ve had off and on problems with this since iOS 11 but this is the worst it’s been in the past few days. Let me know if anyone finds a solution.
So the latest version of Dropbox which was available yesterday for install seems to have fixed the problem on my iPad. I’ll report back if the issue re-occurs.
- not for me - same stuff. keeps at “waiting for download” status in Files app on iPad. Dropbox able to save files for offline access, but I have no clue where it saves it locally (if it does that at all) to be able to access those files with other apps.
iOS apps are sandboxed so the saved file will be on the local device but held within the storage allocated to the DropBox app. To my knowledge the only way to open the file once saved locally is to open it in DropBox and then select the 3 dots to export it to a different app.
I don’t know how Dropbox would handle saving the data if you make changes.
My issues still persist with the latest version of the DropBox App
Thank you so much. That worked!
This does not only affect Files.app, but any app that integrates with the iOS 11 UIDocumentBrowserViewController.
Our app, PDF Viewer, recently switched to this new Files integration and we're seeing lots of reports of issues with the Dropbox integration.
We currently suggest to our users to use file copies in local storage to not come into a situation where data is lost.
Happy to provide more information and feedback if this will help.
To be fair, Apple's UIDocumentBrowserViewController has many bugs as well, so it's unclear who's responsible for these issues. Notably things work much more reliable via iCloud Drive.
(There are also some bugs related to file presenter update notifications being sent incorrectly from the Dropbox extension, however we were able to work around these. We've reported them separately via email.)
- Just wanted to commend y'all for embracing the Files UI even though it surely involves getting complaints about bugs that you have no control over. I hope more apps adopt your "all in" approach!
Just chiming in, I’m glad to hear that dropbox is working on solving the issue but I wanted to give another instance of the bug for your trouble shooting. I first ran into this issue only a few days ago when the dropbox app automatically updated to 78.2.2. I upgraded my iPad Pro 9.7 to 11.2 after the issue to see if the error was with Apple’s Files app and it did not help. I am unable open PDF stored on dropbox in other apps and the editable files such as Numbers files won’t open in the files app, numbers app or on dropbox.
I wanted to follow up on this to say that, in my experience, this issue is exclusive to Dropbox and the UIDocumentBrowserViewController. Google Drive, for example, does not seem to have this issue.
Same issue. IPad Pro 10.5 running 11.2 on latest Dropbox release. Happens in both Ferrite and Files app.
When downloading it within the Dropbox app it does not download in Files. Seems to be two separate repositories.
And now it no longer works.... This is very frustrating.
thinking going all in on iCloud may be the best option. Dropbox just keeps getting less reliable. It is very slow to start up on my older Mac’s as well.
I am experiencing the same issue: attempts to download/view a PDF located in my Dropbox via the Files app fail every time on my iPad Pro 10.5 but work fine on iPad Pro 9.7, iPhone 7 Plus and iPad Pro 12.9 (Late 2015).
- iOS 11.2.1 on all four devices
- Dropbox 76.2.2 for iOS on all four devices
Thank-you for the post CC_JF!
I've had that problem and what it worked for me was to wait a long time to charge the picture or the video until the circle disappear, then all of the documents should work. Also use a great connection.
Good luck
