As you can see in the screenshot, the Dropbox iOS app is taking up 1.37GB of space in app storage alone. But I have no offline files. Things I've done: * Made sure that I have ZERO files marked as "Make available offline". So no files are being explicitly stored. * Explored the settings menu deeply. No where can I find a way to clear the local cache or set a limit. * Searched this forum and the best solution I found, which I know will work, is to completely the delete the app, re-install it, and log in again. But that's such a hack. Here's a screenshot where the app even says it has no cached files... What's going on? What's in this mysterious 1.37GB of stored data? Also, is deleting the app completely and re-installing it still the only option to resolve this? If that's still my only option this situation is a bit absurd. Is there local app data just constantly growing no matter what? Also for reference I use Camera Uploads regularly and I'm pretty I had to do the same thing about a year ago to clear up space. So all this junk filling up my phone accumulated in a year or so. Cheers

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Dropbox iOS app taking up 1.3GB of local app data storage but no offline files?

As you can see in the screenshot, the Dropbox iOS app is taking up 1.37GB of space in app storage alone. But I have no offline files.

Things I've done:

Made sure that I have ZERO files marked as "Make available offline". So no files are being explicitly stored.
Explored the settings menu deeply. No where can I find a way to clear the local cache or set a limit.
Searched this forum and the best solution I found, which I know will work, is to completely the delete the app, re-install it, and log in again. But that's such a hack.

Here's a screenshot where the app even says it has no cached files...

What's going on? What's in this mysterious 1.37GB of stored data?

Also, is deleting the app completely and re-installing it still the only option to resolve this? If that's still my only option this situation is a bit absurd. Is there local app data just constantly growing no matter what? Also for reference I use Camera Uploads regularly and I'm pretty I had to do the same thing about a year ago to clear up space. So all this junk filling up my phone accumulated in a year or so.

Cheers

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Accepted answers

Nancy

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, @andherand.

From what I understand, it’s the Dropbox cache that keeps taking up space from your device, even after the upload is complete, correct?

In this case, here’s what I’d like you to try as a test; clear the app’s cache via the app settings (just make sure there are no files uploading before that), uninstall the Dropbox app, restart your device and then, reinstall Dropbox.

After that, please try to upload a few files to the app and let me know if you’re still having the same issue.

All comments

Hannah

Hey @thelwang, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

If you open your Dropbox app, tap on 'account', then on the gear icon and then on 'clear cache' at the bottom, does that help?

Keep me posted.

thelwang

Thanks for the reply @Hannah.

I should have mentioned in my post that I had already tried that. I tried it again and can confirm that it did nothing. I still see 1.36GB of "Documents & Data" being used by the Dropbox app. It had no effect.

What exactly is it supposed to do? If the cache it clears is the same storage shown under "Space Used", it makes sense it does nothing because that's already showing Zero KB of space being used.

Any other ideas?

thelwang

I noticed that my Dropbox app was out of date so I just updated it. In this new version I then tried "Clear Cache" again. It also did nothing. But somehow in the process the Dropbox app's "Documents & Data" storage has increased from 1.36GB to 1.37GB... it really seems like it's just going to keep growing forever with no way to clear the space. My guess is it's something like the Camera Uploads image thumbnail cache never being cleared. It constantly increases since I'm constantly uploading more photos.

Is there any other solution I could try? (besides deleting and re-install the app) If not, could you confirm that this is a known issuing affecting some users like me? Thanks

Lpotter66

Has there been a solution to this issue? I am having the exact same problem. My settings are identical, but mine is taking up 23 GB of memory.

thelwang

@Lpotter66

Wow that's way worse than me! And nope, I haven't found a proper solution. Have you tried tapping the "Clear Cache" button in settings and are you sure the space isn't being taken up by offline files? If so, then you're in the same situation as me. Also out of curiosity, are you a big Camera Uploads user too? I wonder if that's related.

You can definitely clear up the space by completing deleting the Dropbox app and then re-installing it. That should work. And make sure you delete the app and its data entirely, not just "off load" the app. Full deletion is necessary to recover all this space. Of course, that's a horrible solution. (forces me to re-download the app, re-login, and requires the Dropbox app to re-scan all my Camera Uploads...)

I'm 95% sure there's just no proper solution to this. Though it would be great to hear Dropbox acknowledge that this is a known issue.

Walter

Hi all, thanks for your patience while we looked into this internally.

When it comes to your observations, note that it seems that there is some file storage that's temporarily used for the Camera uploads functionality on your device, which should occasionally be cleaned out by the OS.

However, there are 2 ways to manually do this which is to:
1. Try clearing the cache of the mobile app
3. Reinstall the app to clear the storage used completely.

Having said that, thank you all for your feedback on this and please let us know if you have anything else to add or ask.

spiritFed

I’m having the same issue in addition to slow uploads from my iPad compared to using a desktop computer. Clearing cache did not work for me either, hoping this is fixed soon. Best

Walter

Hi there @spiritFed, sorry to hear about this.

Can you please let us know the exact version of your device's OS and the version of the Dropbox app installed there as well?

Apart from clearing the app's cache, have you tried completely uninstalling the Dropbox mobile app from your iPad and reinstalling it anew?

When it comes to the slow uploads issue, have you maybe tried another wifi network or cellular data to see if that makes any difference?

YeeM

Yes i am having the same issue. 10 gig. wish there was a fix for this

Megan

Hi @YeeM, happy Wednesday!

Have you followed all the available troubleshooting steps mentioned throughout this thread?

Can you let me know the app version, and OS you're using?

Let me know more!

YeeM

Hello! I’m on 306.2, iOS 16.0.2, and I followed all steps listed so far on this thread and a few others.
I really appreciate you reaching out
-YeeM

Megan

Hi @YeeM, can you also send me a few screenshots of your mobile's settings, and how Dropbox looks there, in regards to the Documents and data?

andherand

I have noticed the size growing when uploading large files. It is almost like Dropbox is copying the file to a new location on the phone when transferring the file. Then when the transfer is complete the app never removes the transferred file from a temporary location adding wasted space to our devices.

I am using Dropbox version 310.3.2 iOS version 16.2 (20C65).

Nancy

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, @andherand.

From what I understand, it’s the Dropbox cache that keeps taking up space from your device, even after the upload is complete, correct?

After that, please try to upload a few files to the app and let me know if you’re still having the same issue.

andherand

That worked. I got back my 2 gb of wasted space. thank you

Nancy

Happy to hear that! If you need any further help, feel free to ping me.

Josh62

Hi, just read this thread from 2 years ago.

It’s now 2024 and the exact same problem has been identified as 2 years ago. Cache clearance does nothing, the terrible solution of having to completely delete and reinstall the application does work. But surely this needs a fix. I am running the most up to date IOS and App version.

Could you please let me know if a proper solution has been generated yet/if this has been taken on board as an issue and not just a “delete and reinstall” solution?

Cheers.

Jay

Hi @Josh62, if you're still experiencing this issue, I'd recommend contacting the support team directly for them to investigate this in more detail.