No iPhone background photo upload

[darh]

I am struggling to find up-to-date information on whether or not Dropbox will actually upload photos from the iPhone when the app is in the background. For me it does not.

Old posts imply that Dropbox uses location services to allow the app to run in the background. However Dropbox does not appear in the location services settings (a big no-no if it's actually using location services). Nor is it listed as using location services under Settings -> Privacy -> Files and Folders. I've tried turning off and back on the Background App Refresh, along with iPhone restarts, no change.

Pertinent details: Dropbox set to all photos, background app refresh is on, cellular data is on. Dropbox is added to the Files app. iPhone 12 Pro, iOS 15.2.1. Latest Dropbox app. iCloud photos are turned off. The Dropbox app under iCloud settings is turned off. Dropbox plan is Plus.

[darh]

Thanks, Jim. I appreciate your taking the time to explain.

IMHE (in my humble experience) if I take a bunch of pictures and don't launch the Dropbox app in the interim, those pics are not uploaded even weeks later. Maybe it has something to do with my usage patterns, so the Dropbox app never gets any background cycles to even check for new photos.

There are a lot of comments online about how Apple can do this with iCloud yet you cannot -- I surmise this is yet another scenario where Apple hasn't opened the dev APIs sufficiently, and iCloud uses Apple's own access systems they won't allow you to touch.

I'm going to try to implement a process where I do use iCloud just as a backup in case I lose my phone, then periodically launch the Dropbox app to upload, then move those pics out of Camera Uploads into a more permanent store on Dropbox, and clear out my iPhone photos. I hope this will work well.

Getting the documentation updated would have saved me a lot of cycles 🙂

[jboulter]

You're exactly correct about iCloud.

Opening the Dropbox app often should help get the app prioritized higher for background time by iOS, from what I've read.

If you happen to have links to the documentation you read previously, please send it over and I'll make sure we get it updated asap! 🙂

Thank you,

Jim

[darh]

I searched the help center for "background" or "background upload" or "photo upload" and found this out-of-date article:

https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/mobile/location-data

These are just silent on the whole background upload issue:

https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/photos/camera-uploads-overview

https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/photos/camera-uploads-fix

The stuff in the community is horribly out of date. Hopefully this thread will trickle towards the top for the next searcher!

[jboulter]

You're the best!  Thank you for sharing these I'll be certain they're updated!

[SJG123]

I've been having this same problem for months now and nothing seems to fix it. So very very frustrating! 

[Lmelville]

I switched to Dropbox recently with a family plan. Being able to automatically upload photos was a huge part of my decision to purchase a plan. I was previously using Google photos which uploaded in the background without issue. There seems to be a lot of conflicting information in this thread so please give us a straight answer on this.

[meharg]

Nothing has helped me resolve this issue, which has persisted for several months.

[Megan]

Hi @Lmelville & @meharg, I am wishing you a great Tuesday! 

Have you taken a look at this Help Center article? It provides some basic troubleshooting steps there. 

Feel free to let me know if the behavior remains once you've tried that.

Thanks!