Swiping through photos full-screen on an Android phone in the Dropbox mobile app

[Water-Air]

Hi,

I would love to be able to swipe through full-screen photos in the Dropbox folders on my Android phone.

At the moment, I have to click to open the photo to full-screen, click to reduce it again, choose another photo, and click to open that. It’s downright embarrassing when I’m showing photos to my friends on my phone that I have the functionality and speed of a 15-year-old phone just because I’m using Dropbox.

I would love to be able to show the photo full-screen and then swipe through my Dropbox photos the way I can with photos in my Gallery.

I see other users have the same problem.

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/View-download-and-export/mobile-app-photo-viewing/td-p/682754

I’ve tried to solve the issue by setting Dropbox to open photos through a gallery app, but this makes the problem even worse. Using one of these apps (which works perfectly for non-Dropbox photos) is a navigation nightmare when opening Dropbox photos.

Again, I see that other users have been struggling with this.

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/View-download-and-export/Can-t-scroll-from-one-photo-to-another-on-t...

Please tell me if you already have a way for me to swipe through photos in my Dropbox folders. If not, please fix it.

Thank you

[Walter]

Hi there @Water-Air - sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

Could you please clarify your device's OS version, and the version of the Dropbox mobile app installed there? 

Also, are you previewing your files through the Home tab, the Files tab, or the Photos tab perhaps?

Let us know more and we'll take it from there. 

[Water-Air]

Thank you for being so swift in your response.

I'm using the Dropbox app version 382.2.4

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra running Android 14.

Samsung's interface is called One UI version 6.1

My photos are organized in folders in Dropbox, so I can easily scroll through the same folders on all my devices. On my Windows PC, this is done without any problems.

On my Dropbox app for Android, I access my photos using Dropbox's Files tab.

If the Android Dropbox app has another way of picking a specific folder and scrolling through these photos and no others, I haven't found it yet.

Thank you very much for your help 😊

[Hannah]

Hey @Water-Air, I hope you don't mind me jumping in here.

If you go to the setting shown in the screenshot on this solution, do you see that you have selected a default app preference for image files?

And if so, are you able to remove it, like the solution mentions, so that the images open as a Dropbox preview?

[Water-Air]

Hi Hanna, good to hear from you too 😊

I've tried it all. It doesn't when I unselect all default apps and open the photos in Dropbox. And it also doesn't work when I attach the Samsung app, or the Google Photos app, or an indie app.

These other apps allow swiping through full-screen photos when the photos are located in my phone's photo album. But they don't allow it when the photos are located in a Dropbox folder.

Thanx

[Nancy]

Hi from me as well, @Water-Air! Is this something that has always been happening on your Android device, or did the issue occur after an update?

Also, have you tried clearing the Dropbox app’s cache (via its settings) and reinstalling it? Do you see any difference after that?

[Water-Air]

Hi Nancy, thanks for helping me out with this. 😊

I have now done as you suggested: Cleared the Cache -> Uninstalled Dropbox -> Installed it again.

My situation is unchanged: When I want to swipe from one fullscreen Dropbox photo to the next, I have to:

1) Swipe or click the photo to remove the fullscreen view and show a number of options for the photo at the top and bottom of the screen.

2) Swipe the photo.

3) Click the following photo to make that fullscreen.

There's a slight delay in Dropbox for each of these steps, so even though I have pre-downloaded the image folder to my phone, swiping from one fullscreen Dropbox image to the next will take 2-3 seconds.

This is a marked contrast to when I'm browsing through non-Dropbox photos. In the standard image viewer on my phone, I don't have to leave the fullscreen view to swipe through non-Dropbox photos, and I estimate that I can swipe through 15 non-Dropbox images in 2-3 seconds. Everything is fast and enjoyable.

I would love it if I could do something to make the UX for Dropbox images on my phone as fluid and convenient as for non-Dropbox images. But I suspect that it's something in your app that just makes this viewing experience less enjoyable. If so, I hope you'll improve it as part of your otherwise wonderful service.

😊

[stuey6]

I have this issue too I just assumed it was Dropbox's 'way'
Is it actually fixable? I have tried all options suggested so far

[Walter]

Hey @stuey6 - sorry to hear about this.

Can you clarify your device's OS version, and the version of the Dropbox mobile app installed there? 

Also, do you notice this when you navigate a specific folder or the photos tab? 

[Water-Air]

Hey Walter,

I’m curious about your questions for Stuey6.

Stuey6 and I have the impression that what we describe happens for every user, in every version of the Dropbox mobile app, and in every folder.

Do you know of a Dropbox app version where this does NOT happen? Which version would that be, and is there a way to ‘anti-update’ to get it?

Also, do you know of a folder where this does NOT happen? I would love to know what it might be.

Thank you for your help,

Air-Water