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Apple Silicon (M1) Desktop Sync Compatibility

Please can you upgrade the Dropbox app so that it works natively on Apple Silicon Macs (M1) without Rosetta.

Rosetta is not an option as it annihilates the battery.

This may be a duplicate of the below idea however that started for ARM processors in general and you haven't looked at it in 6 years so starting an Apple specific idea in the hope you see it.

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-ideas/Desktop-app-with-syncing-for-devices-with-ARM-processors/idi-p/57554/page/18

There are also lots of comments on this thread to help support the case for demand:

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-installs-integrations/Dropbox-Apple-Silicon-M1-install/td-p/500325

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Accepted answers

Emmet

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.

All comments

faebe

I'd like to extend this request to discontinue using deprecated kernel extensions and instead base the new version on Apple’s new File Provider framework for MacOS:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/fileprovider

Microsoft recently announced a similar move for OneDrive:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-onedrive-blog/microsoft-works-to-ensure-a-great-onedrive-experience-on-apple/ba-p/2400803

xmetal

Agreed, while Dropbox does operate under Rosetta without bugs, the power and ram resources required are silly. With dropbox running I cannot get anywhere near the expected battery life with casual use. Quit Dropbox and we get back to some semblance of normalcy.

Come on now, I pay for this service, it's not freeware done by one dude at home, this should have been ready for M1 long ago.

Megan

This idea is going to need a bit more support before we share your suggestion with our team.

We’ve updated the status to encourage more users to back you up!

Latest update as of Jan 2022: https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-installs-integrations/Apple-Silicon-M1-Desktop-Sync-Compatibility/m-p/568902/highlight/true#M115728

Wvp

Needs more votes to at least be considered?

That is strange... is Dropbox going to wait until it just does not work anymore on MacOS (like they did last year). I cannot possibly believe the development-team is living in a cave and denying the architecture change from Apple 😆. Do they even 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!

csdolby

May be worth voting for this too, as it's about ARM processors in general.

Hopefully some of the code would be reusable, and it's got 10 times the votes.

Edit: I see that was the suggestion on the original post!

Grant6

> This idea is going to need a bit more support before we share your suggestion with our team.

This attitude concerns me. I understand the need to prioritize work based on customer demand, and that Apple has cushioned the transition to the M1 chip, but the underlying reality is that Apple's entire MacBook lineup is now running on the M1 chip, meaning that any Mac app not running on that architecture is running on borrowed time. Engineers and power users will bring it up first (e.g. this "suggestion" and similar forum posts) and start making recommendations to their bosses and clients. Apple will make more OS changes to support their new File Provider API. But by the time an Enterprise client brings it up, it will be because the 5000 Macs they are upgrading won't run Dropbox any more, leaving them scrambling to find a solution and Dropbox scrambling to fix something with so much technical debt that they won't be able to fast enough. But, more likely, the aforementioned engineers and power users will take preemptive measures to avoid that embarrassing situation and keep a cautious eye out for a change in Dropbox or for other file storage/sync solutions that support current hardware.

Marc A.6

@Grant6

They're disconnected from reality. This comment really nailed it for me:

> This idea is going to need a bit more support before we share your suggestion with our team.

Dropbox has jumped the shark a long time ago. Because of their blatant disregard for Apple Silicon users, I've stopped paying: I'm keeping my terabytes of data as a free read-only storage, and I've already started migrating to a different solution.
Interestingly, many of my personal and business contacts have jumped ship already, so I'm not even hampered in my efforts, as literally nobody is asking me to share via Dropbox anymore.

I'm sure there are excellent engineers stuck in a job where they have to satisfy the requirements of a totally derailed management which is more interested in the appropriate colors for their corporate image, than listening to what users are asking.

This is how ships sink.

Wvp

@Grant6 Although I do not think the Dropbox engineers are unaware of Apple Silicon, I agree with you on this. Ignoring Apple Silicon and handling this as a 'feature request' is a bit strange at least.

But this also happens with other requests at Dropbox. Like for example Dark Mode which is not a mandatory thing to have, but Dropbox is the ONLY application on my system that does not have a Dark Mode. Dropbox is also the ONLY application I personally that does not have a Universal binary for Apple Silicon.

At least OneDrive announced this is coming, Dropbox keeps silent...

lukeyo

@_robin_ this is a great suggestion, thank you for raising it here.

Definitely key functionality you're requesting here, lets hope it happens soon.

mcarpentier

Almost a year after the introduction of Apple Silicon Macs, Dropbox remains one of the very few major software suppliers on my MacMini M1 that doesn't have an Apple Silicon Native or Universal install. It is still Intel based, using Rosetta to function. It does work, but as a result is now my biggest CPU hog. Adobe CS, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome... But also many many smaller software vendors have a native install. So what are you waiting for, Dropbox? Thanks!

MaxwellOz

Any word on when Dropbox will be native for Apple Silicon M1? I still need to install Rosetta to run Dropbox on my M1 Mac.

MaxwellOz

Would be great to see this happen! OneDrive did announce that the M1 version is coming in November OneDrive will soon run natively on Apple M1 silicon | TechRadar

poiuztrewq

Hi, I'm one of these business users that are going to upgrade to M1 Macs. Any news from Dropbox?

conalex4488

This is becoming a joke, dropbox is premium and should have native m1 support by now.

marcel83

this is pretty ridiculous. M1 Chips shipped one year ago - more than 2 years ago apple offered for dev teams the apple silicon based chips and a company like dropbox can't handle a small software like this? We pay every month for a service that we love - but simple things like convert it to a native version is not possible? Very embarrassing -.-

Please dear mr. dropbox, update ur software soon. Ur software doesn't use metal engine or renderings for ambient occlusion. Its just a "simple" tool.

Regards

Marcel

mcarpentier

Absolutely!

poiuztrewq

@Megan This really shouldn’t be something that we vote on. If Dropbox wants to support Macs it HAS to include that, otherwise it shouldn’t be available for the platform anymore and customers have to go somewhere else - it’s a simple business decision and not a nice-to-have!

faebe

@Megan What is wrong with you guys, seriously?

This request can be combined with the 436 Votes from "Desktop app (with syncing) for devices with ARM processors" (https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-ideas/Desktop-app-with-syncing-for-devices-with-ARM-processors/idi-p/57554) since both request an ARM optimized version. Combine the votes and you have the most requested feature for dropbox in 2021.

biketocamp

This is becoming comical. Time to stop sending them money, just have to find the time to move the data. I guess I should do that on an _old_ intel mac.

Marc A.6

@biketocamp

I went back to a free plan some time ago. Not going to pay for outdated software.

MacUser84

This is ridiculous. Apple has changed the MacBook Air and Pro lineups with the M1 and the iMac is now also M1. We all know that Apple is changing the entire Mac lineup to M1. Even the iPad Pro uses the M1. Time for DropBox to get going and get us universal binary or M1 native version ASAP. My school, Liberty University, uses both DropBox and OneDrive. Time to get the developers busy and stop with the maintenance Intel updates only.

poiuztrewq

Just FYI, there's already https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-ideas/Apple-Silicon-M1-Desktop-Sync-Compatibility/idi-p/527743 about the same thing which has been ignored as well.

Mannaffolki

Dear Dropbox,

Apple silicon has been announced on november 10 of 2020. Almost one year ago.

There are a few threads running with the request of releasing a native M1 version for Apple silicon users, since Dropbox is amongst one of the only apps/software left that doesn’t run natively.

The problem being that Dropbox is a memory hog and we’d like to see this fixed.

Since we apparently don’t have the right to an answer in those threads and when you do answer you’re just evading the question, I thought it’s be a great idea to start a new post.

When oh when will we see a native M1 version?

Is there anyone at Dropbox who knows? Is there even anyone who cares at this point?

Give us something. A timeline. A hard no. Anything. So we - M1 users waiting for a native version - can at least know what we’re up against and cancel out membership if need be.

Thank you for reading.
But more so, thank you for replying.

Regards
Tiemen

Martin H.53

Given that it took them right up until Apple discontinued 32-bit support completely to bother recompiling Dropbox as a 64-bit binary (i.e. it took them almost 10 years), I really wouldn't hold my breath. At this stage, my impression is that the Dropbox development team consists of one part-time intern in a basement.

csdolby

Good thing is that both this and the Raspberry Pi ARM ideas are really starting to make strong headway.

If the votes thing actually makes any difference, then hopefully some work will be oncoming with this.

@Megan can these two be reconsidered? This has moved above the number of votes for quite a few things that have been delivered, based on all time votes.

Hannah

Thanks for your thoughts on this, everybody.

We are working to ensure that Dropbox, and all its features, continue to be fully compatible with all devices that run supported versions of MacOS.

For the moment you will need to have Rosetta to run the Dropbox desktop client, on devices using Apple's new M1 processor.

You can find information on installing Rosetta here.

Mannaffolki

@Hannah really now.

You do this every time.

Silence for months and then you just jump in, tell us some random fact and then we don’t get to see you again until next spring.

Tell us something we didn’t know instead of stating the obvious.

Give us a timeline, an ETA, an ‘**bleep** off we ain’t doing that sh*t’, anything.

But don’t come on here wasting everyone’s time and energy.

I’ve had about enough of this and the disrespect from the whole of Dropbox, thinking that an M1 native version is just something extra you’ll just casually get to in a decade.

Get to work already!

biketocamp

moment: a very brief period of time.

Grant6

As I’m selling my Intel-based MacBook Pro, as of today I have 7 “desktop” computers. Exactly one of them runs Dropbox natively (but poorly because it’s an Ubuntu box). The rest of my “desktops” are ARM based or aren’t powerful enough (Surface Go) to install the desktop version. The rest of the desktops are a combination of Raspberry Pi’s, M1 Macs, and a Surface Pro X. Dropbox will fully run only on the two Macs (using Rosetta), will run a not-useful-enough Dropbox for S Mode on the two Surfaces, and won’t run at all on the Raspberry Pi’s (although I can in theory sync using a third party open source app “rclone”). Since my ecosystem is thoroughly grounded in Dropbox Pro, what this practically means is that I have little hooks set up, sometimes using rsync to my Mac Mini M1, sometimes using OneDrive, sometimes using Resilio Sync (which is rapidly gaining traction as it runs on the Macs and Raspberry Pis and doesn’t require an external service). I don’t have a complete replacement for Dropbox yet, but its usefulness is being rapidly eroded by lack of support for my devices, which are all ARM but two.

sklar1000

Dropbox consumes 1 GB of memory for me on my Mac Mini with M1 chip. This is nuts. Based on the response from Dropbox (needs more votes), this suggests a solution is 6-12 months away at the earliest?