Stuck scanning photo library

[akvictor84]

Dropbox has been stuck “scanning your photo library” the last several times I’ve tried to backup my photos. Has anyone else had this happen to them?

[Jay · Accepted solution]

Hi @akvictor84, thanks for messaging today!

If you're not on a Dropbox Basic plan with more than 3 devices connected, could you try uninstalling the app, rebooting the device, and re-installing it to see if this helps?

Keep me updated with any progress!

[Raino12]

Same problem already for several weeks. Iphone 12mini and latest IOS.

New photos are not discovered. App only shows “scanning your photo library”. After deleting app and reinstalling - photo backup is working again. But only once.. I have to delete it again..

Have been deleting/reinstalling app already for 10 times for uploading new photos.

[Isolith]

Same above. I’ve reinstalled and restarted my device several times, but the same “scanning your photo library” keeps showing up and nothing gets uploaded.

[aggieforester05]

My Iphone 11 is having the same issue. Stuck at "scanning your photo library".

[Jay]

Hi everyone, could you try updating the app as there is a new version out today, and let me know how it goes?

[Raino12]

This problem has been there already thru several app versions. Situation is no better after today's update.

It works once, right after new installation. No upload on next starts.

But it works again after delete-reinstall. Again once.

[jboulter]

Hey @Raino12 ,

We're working on rolling out a fix for this issue.  Ensuring you're on the latest version of the Dropbox iOS app (244.6.2 or higher), could you please do the following and let me know if it seems to help your issue?

1. Ensure you're signed in to the app, and have given permission for Dropbox to view your photo library (you can see it in the Settings app by tapping Dropbox in the list of apps).
2. Turn on Camera Uploads if it's not already on.
3. Take a look at the Camera Uploads status you mentioned before being stuck on "Scanning your library."  I'd expect the first time you launch the update it'll probably say the same thing with no difference, so if that happens go ahead and force-close and re-open the Dropbox app.  It may take a couple launches for the fix to kick in, so after giving each one a minute to see if it's working, go ahead and try again.
4. After a few seconds, assuming you've got photos to upload, you may notice that banner switch to uploading photos, with a progress bar and a number on the right side.  If you've got a lot to upload, that'll go on for some time.  Please turn on Background App Refresh for Dropbox in the same Settings app screen I mentioned before.  That helps this process continue in the background from time-to-time.
5. After uploading all the newly found photos, you can expect one of two things to happen, and I'd love if you could tell us which happens for you.
   
1. You might see something like "All done for now" which is ideal, because it lets you know your whole library has been scanned successfully and we've not found anything new to upload.  
2. Instead, you might see "Scanning your library" again, which is also okay, and totally normal.  That status just means we're looking through your library to ensure we've got everything, and even if it doesn't seem like it's doing much it might just not be finding anything to upload if you've got a lot of photos/videos.  If you’ve got many and/or particularly large videos, you can consider disabling video uploads, as those usually take the longest for Dropbox to scan.  Background App Refresh can help this scan too.

Thanks,

Jim

[geoffmacd]

Hey @raino12,

We're working on rolling out a fix for this issue.  Ensuring you're on the latest version of the Dropbox iOS app (244.6.2 or higher), could you please do the following and let me know if it seems to help your issue?

1. Ensure you're signed in to the app, and have given permission for Dropbox to view your photo library (you can see it in the Settings app by tapping Dropbox in the list of apps).
2. Turn on Camera Uploads if it's not already on.
3. Take a look at the Camera Uploads status you mentioned before being stuck on "Scanning your library."  I'd expect the first time you launch the update it'll probably say the same thing with no difference, so if that happens go ahead and force-close and re-open the Dropbox app.  It may take a couple launches for the fix to kick in, so after giving each one a minute to see if it's working, go ahead and try again.
4. After a few seconds, assuming you've got photos to upload, you may notice that banner switch to uploading photos, with a progress bar and a number on the right side.  If you've got a lot to upload, that'll go on for some time.  Please turn on Background App Refresh for Dropbox in the same Settings app screen I mentioned before.  That helps this process continue in the background from time-to-time. 
5. After uploading all the newly found photos, you can expect one of two things to happen, and I'd love if you could tell us which happens for you.  
1. You might see something like "All done for now" which is ideal, because it lets you know your whole library has been scanned successfully and we've not found anything new to upload.  
2. Instead, you might see "Scanning your library" again, which is also okay, and totally normal.  That status just means we're looking through your library to ensure we've got everything, and even if it doesn't seem like it's doing much it might just not be finding anything to upload if you've got a lot of photos/videos.  If you’ve got many and/or particularly large videos, you can consider disabling video uploads, as those usually take the longest for Dropbox to scan.  Background App Refresh can help this scan too.

Thanks,

Geoff

[Raino12]

Have to admit that after playing with all suggested options to set on/off - Photo upload started working and made it already for 5 times.

So looks like problem solved. Thanks!