Request regarding end of support for MacOS X 10.10 (Yosemite) & 10.11 (El Capitan)

Here's an idea that your most loyal and long standing Dropbox users will appreciate - KEEP SUPPORTING MacOS 10.10 and 10.11!!

I have a small publishing house and we rely on tried and tested, long lived software to collaborate with other fellow creatives to work together.

We are running on 10.11 El Capitan because it works well with our graphic and publishing softwares. One key collaborative ingredient is Dropbox native sync. (Instead of web based)

To give less than 1 month notice and forcing us to upgrade all our Mac OS on the most reliable, Pre- 2016 intel based macs, is utterly terrible. It is also highly unreasonable.

You are forcing us to do massive upgrades to our other software should we move up to 10.12 and beyond, and our software do not work with the newer OS.

Please, for the love of computing, continue supporting 10.10 and 10.11.

Walter

Hi @justmeinNJ & @Chern - thanks for dropping by our Community to share your feedback on this.

As you probably know, as of October 17th 2022, the Dropbox desktop app will no longer work on any Mac device running OS X 10.11 or older.

Apple stopped providing security updates to OS X 10.10 and OS X 10.11 in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

We are ending our support of the Dropbox desktop app for these operating systems to keep our product offerings in-line.

Let me know if you have anything else to add or ask.

Ok. You've made your stand, gave a standard response, and I will make mine.

My standard response will be to leave Dropbox.

Thank you for the decade of good service. Obviously wasn't a good enough customer for you to consider retaining.

Same here: loved, used, and paid Dropbox for years.
I have some apps on 4 Macs running which require Mac OS 10.10.
I could live with limitations (or "use at your own risk") with Dropbox, but if they stop supporting Mac OS 10.10, I have to leave and look for something else.
Any suggestions for alternatives to Dropbox? Does not have to be a free app; I'm happy to pay.
Thanks

I've been with Dropbox since 2011 (I have the exact date still fresh in my memory.) Dropbox is great, no doubt, I was subscribing it on and off as my usage increased with the team.

Just paid for pCloud, they have 500gb for a lifetime fee of 175usd. And support down to 10.9.

My migration of data will complete in about a day or so... @TGVW. I wish you and everyone on the same boat, all the best in looking for the right service...

C.

Thanks @Chern ! Yes Dropbox is (was) great and I was happy to pay the 120 $.
But for me (and looks like for others too), support for Mac OS 10.10 or 10.11 is essential.

Just checked pCloud -> Looks exactly like what I need!
So if Dropbox does not change its path and won´t support Mac OS 10.10, I will switch to pCloud.

Emarjay

Apple made computers that could be upgraded but once the upgrade level was reached, that didn’t mean the computers no longer worked. I’m running a MacbookPro from 2009 and is ALL I CAN AFFORD. I bought it new and it has done me well but now I am 75, retired, with limited pension, and no way can I afford to replace it. It is running 10.10 and to withdraw support with ONE MONTH notice is a disgrace! I’ve used dropbox for at least ten years I think and been happy to pay despite it being used rarely.

IF THERE IS A WAY TO KEEP THIS RUNNING AT LEAST ANOTHER FEW MONTHS TO GIVE PEOPLE CHANCE TO MIGRATE OR FIND A WAY TO UPDATE, that would be useful and HONOURABLE!

You hit the nail in the Dropbox coffin. My notice was served 21 days in advance.

Not only withdrawing support, they will DISABLE the ability to SYNC files!!! I am happy to use unsupported software at my own risk...

Ironically - I have never used Dropbox support channel until now and for the wrong reasons. 11 years of trouble free run! How many apps can beat that?

Are you Dropbox guys listening yet? Hello? I'm 8 hours from completing my migration to pCloud which I paid for!

@Chern same here: used (& paid) Dropbox more than 10 years & never used support.
As @Emarjay wrote too: one month notice is a shame!
Downloaded pCloud and already testing it …

bwt. I would be happy to have an unsupported version too.

justmeinNJ

Not a great answer. You have heard from me and others that upgrading is not always an option.

Your "solution" is to upgrade.

I hoped someone might at least take the comment seriously and look into ways to extend support.

Regurgitating the already stated, and already disliked, position is not helpful.

justmeinNJ

I've been edged out by Dropbox before on a much older Mac, but this time it will topple my business. My main computer runs El Capitan, which is a pretty reliable OS. I can't update this computer. It is not possible. I'm outraged!!

@Robinz that's right. 10.10 and 10.11 is stable. It works with software and formats that sometimes no longer exist... wait till Dropbox gives 30 days notice for Mojave and Catalina users. If you think this is bad... all the mid-decade Macs will fall off like flies on the zapper

@Walter - Is it a ridiculous idea you escalate this to @Drew? Houston, we have a problem.

I agree they should have given us more notice, like 6 months to rearrange our lives and businesses around this news. I would register complaints on Twitter and customer support. I'm willing to participate in any other ideas for complaints.

Iapo

Hi Walter,
Does the end of support for OS X 10.10 and OS X 10.11 systems mean that Mac folders will no longer sync? Or is the end of support for some other Dropbox app that opens in a separate window?

eblake

I have a 2009 vintage iMac, running OS X El Capitan Version 10.11.6. It can not be upgraded to any other OS! Please continue supporting the older system!

Hi @LaPo it will no longer sync on app. And it will no longer be supported (help)

Only way is web browser access.

Trev Post Cap

Absolutely disgusting, with less than a months notification, I’m just simply not willing to sacrifice a lifetime of work just so I can continue using Dropbox. I’m already looking at alternatives ready to cancel my Dropbox subscription.

justmeinNJ

Right. This is the crux of the issue. Due to processor differences, most 2008/9 vintage macs will not ruin anything past 10.11. This really ought to be delayed at least 2 more years. A solution is beyond any of our ability --- except dropbox who simply don't want to do regression testing.

eblake

After a review of the file sharing I need to do, post retirement, I realized that I can use iClouddrive to share my files across my iMac, iPad, iMacAir, and iPhone. I really don't need Drop Box as I no longer share files with an associate. That was why I started Drop Box in the first place. Just kept using it as it was handy and comfortable. Dropping support for MacOS10.11 makes it uncomfortable. Made me look at iCloud and made the switch. Good By Drop Box!

Emarjay

I’m pleased you are able to find such an easy solution. My problem is that I still have a daughter with whom I have a shared Dropbox for family history files. She has a more modern computer and uses Dropbox with others so I’m being forced to look at buying a cheap but more modern Mac second hand in order to keep the system going. It’s DISGRACEFUL that we LOYAL CUSTOMERS were given so little time to decide what to do.

ADE Media

Completely agree with this. We run very stable El Capitan macs with bespoke applications. One month to upgrade the OS, rewrite and test our apps simply isn't enough. If they'd given notice six months ago I would have accepted it, but just over a month isn't viable.

alluvialsphinx

Appreciate this response, Walter, but Dropbox still does not fully work on the latest Mac OS. To remove support from any Mac OS at this point is extremely irresponsible.

@alluvialsphinx I didn't even realize this! I fully agree. I posted to @dropboxsupport on Twitter and I suggest others do this too.

Samuel R.

I second everything that has been said. For me this unwanted upgrade means that I have to abandon my perfectly working system and buy a new computer, since the one I use now doesn´t work with later versions of OS X. And I really hate to be forced into upgrading hardware that works. We have a climate crisis and it shouldn´t be allowed making upgrades that forces people to consume more hardware, a consumption that inevitably speeds up climate change.

JackinCA

Walter--echoing some of what others have said, here are my gripes:

1) The email I got about the October 2022 upgrade did not provide an exact date in October. I contacted the service rep on line and she said she did not know an exact date when OS10.11 would no longer work. She would have left it at that but I pressed her to ask someone higher up. I got a reply an hour os so later to the effect that an exact date for cut-off had not been set. Here, you are saying October 17. Why do you have the date but your service reps do not? The date is rather critical since my choices were to either right away spend 4-5 hours (ie, losing a work day) getting my current OS upgraded or plopping down $5k immediately at the Mac store to get a new computer delivered in time.

2) I asked the rep if I upgraded to Catalina--OS10.15, if Dropbox would still support me past October. The response "to the best of my knowledge". So now I'm trusting my files to a company that does not know when its roll-out date is and isn't really sure what will still be working afterward. When I hit the support page re system requirements, it only says that I will need Monterey (ie, 12.0), but does not mention 10.15 and up and how long those are expected to work--or if I'm losing functionality if I stay with 10.15 and not Monterey.

3) Too short notice--so even assuming October 17 is the roll out date, I need to buy a new iMac to run Monterey. But the Mac store says the package I would need to buy will take longer than that to deliver.

4) Beyond all of that--The latest iMac version that supports Monterey was sold in 2017. Basically what Dropbox is telling us is that to continue using Dropbox we are required to invest $5,000 to $6,000 every five years in a new computer, while the current one is still working just fine otherwise. I can't see how this is a sustainable business model on your end. I'm resigned to upgrade the computer about every ten years, but five is pretty extreme.

tonybosley

You're absolutely right. This is pure idiocy on the part of Dropbox. There are so many of us (like me) who have entire systems set up whereby it's just not possible to simply "upgrade". My main computer is a 2008 Mac Pro which doesn't go any further than 10.11. I have so much software tangled up here, and I'm in the midst of major production that is going to take me months and years to complete. I can't miss a step here, and now you're suddenly "announcing", like a bunch of fascists, that you're discontinuing support for OSX 10.10 and 10.11 ??????? Are you crazy? Why????? Just leave us alone and let us do our work FFS.

If you actually go through with this, I am DEFINITELY switching to pCloud. I'll be more than happy to pay whatever they want to charge. It'll be a hell of a lot easier, and cheaper, than trying to replace my entire work station and upgrade all this software.

I really don't wish you people well. This is a really cold, heartless and callous decision on your part. You think everybody out here has the "latest, greatest" hardware???? We're all just slick hipsters like you with fancy lofts in Manhattan? Is that it? You have a very warped view of what's happening in the real world.

We are people just struggling to get by and complete our projects, using the gear we HAVE. We don't have the means to be "up on all the latest gadgets" (and studio spaces) like you do.

Go back to the drawing board and figure out a way to make this work for all of us poor little peasants out here who are not as fortunate as you.