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Dropbox unstable in iPad OS Files App.

The problem I have is that Dropbox seems to crash when running on an iPAD via the apple files app. If I open an application that uses the files app, such as Pages or Final Draft, when saving to the Dropbox via the files app, it crashes the app and for the next 4 to 5 minutes if I click on drop box via the files app it just doesn’t load.

Apple has confirmed this is a Dropbox issue (I raised it with them first), and I have not been able to crash the application(s) using Google Drive via files in the same way.

Can anyone help?

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Accepted answers

rhut

We recently upgraded the syncing experience between the Files and Dropbox and it should be more reliable now. Ensure that your Dropbox app is upgraded to receive the full benefits of this experience!

All comments

ae6dx00

Interesting. I'm still seeing ort on a new iphone with ios 16

Hannah

Hey @Andrew55, I'm glad this was resolved for you.

It appears that this is an issue that has to do with the way the Files app works.

So, I would definitely recommend you reach out to Apple for further assistance, @ae6dx00.

JD27

me : dropbox doesn't work on ipad file apps!
??? : Use icloud
me : but...!
??? : icloud
me : wha...!!
??? : iCLOUD

Andrew55

I spoke too soon. Files froze again. If Microsoft and Box can make their stuff work in Files, then surely Dropbox can if they want to. I guess I’m switching to one of them (or iCloud), for which iOS/iPadOS support is a higher priority.

springerarchi

I've been having this issue for well over 2 years...I use the Dropbox app in lieu of the Files integration as much as possible, but any time you need access from any other app then usually the Files integration is the only way to do so. It's extremely frustrating and time consuming to deal with, but I don't have the time to migrate to a different service than Dropbox for now.

It seems to be stuck in a never-ending finger-pointing game between Dropbox and Apple. Naturally, Apple says the issue is with Dropbox and I should use iCloud instead. Frankly, I agree that if Google Drive, Box, OneDrive etc can all work smoothly with the Files integration (I've tested with Google Drive and OneDrive and have yet to have the same locking up issue even once) then it's clearly a Dropbox issue.

ae6dx00

@springerarchi very well said. I completely agree with you.

Andrew55

In case anyone from Dropbox is listening, you lost a customer over this issue. I cancelled my subscription — migrating to OneDrive.

Atair

Its been over a year and nothing changed? How much more 'looking into it' can be done?

I am getting a bit tired of ending up in this forums just to discover that i am not alone and absolutely nothing is done about the problems this service has.

Dragon Personal Management

Once dropbox has stopped functioning, the only way to resolve this problem is to reboot the iPad it’s obviously restarts the dropbox Demon similar to going into Windows and stopping and starting services unfortunately cannot stop and start services on an iPad or phone so the only resolution once dropbox has locked up is to restart the device

ColombianJoker

I have basically the same problem: the file provider is extremely unstable. With apps that write many (different) parts of files, the file provider stops working. I lose save operations, and it is dropbox, because whenever it stops working in my app, it stops working for anything in the Files app, I cant’t even browse any folder. To disable and reenable the Dropbox option in the sidebar of Files does nothing, my only solution is to restart my iPad. It is fustrating, I only keep using Dropbox because I have other devices (with brands different from Apple) that only connect with Dropbox.

I have iPadOS15.6.1 and Dropbox 306.2 on an iPad Pro 2020 11”, and the problems are more evident whenever I try to markup files in PDF Expert, but any program saving files can (and do) create problems with the file provider.

Nancy

Hi everyone, I hope you’re all doing great!

@ColombianJoker (and anyone else who’s still facing the same issue), can you please let me know so that we can open a ticket for you and investigate this further by looking into your Dropbox account?

ColombianJoker

Yes please! What must I do?

Simonmr

It still doesn't work for me - if I want to work on a file stored in Dropbox on my iPad, I now just copy it someplace else, open it, work on it, then save it, then re upload to Dropbox. Not really ideal.

ColombianJoker

That's what I'm doing now with the PDF files I want to annotate with Readdle PDF Expert

VinceM50

Hello, count me in, I will test again tonight to reproduce the issue.

Megan

Hi all, I reached out to you internally. Respond back to me, and we'll take it from there.

Thanks!

flaviomuff

I do have exatcly the same issue. would appreciate if you could help me out with this.

Simonmr

Hmmm frustratingly I was trying to record a Screencast to demonstrate the problem on my iPad today and it worked flawlessly. I was able to create a new document in Pages, save it to Dropbox, and changes would save as expected without the application or the Files app hanging.

Not sure if this is a result of software updates, but will keep an eye on it and report back if the problem reoccurs with me.

superuser

It breaks only when uploading multiple files.

For example when I export 10 photos to a dropbox folder, the first 3 are usually uploaded before it crashes and I need to restart the iPad for it to work again!

Simonmr

I had the problem occur in the past when just working in a file stored in Dropbox on my iPad. So bit of a different issue I guess. Both are very frustrating though!

Hannah

Hey @flaviomuff, sorry to see you're having trouble with this.

Do you mind if we reach out to you via email, so we can investigate this internally?

flaviomuff

sure! do you have my email?

Hannah

Yes, no worries! I just emailed you, so make sure to get back to me, when you have a chance.

mirismile

I've got the same problem as everyone else. Can you please help me solve it?

superuser

Nobody at Dropbox seems to care.

How would anybody give money for a service like this?

Megan

Hi @mirismile, how are you today?

Can you walk me through the steps that you take when this behavior happens? Are you trying to share content from the Files app, and vice versa or do you follow a different route?

If you could also let me know which OS you're using, along with your Dropbox version of the app, that'd be amazing.

Let me know!

mirismile

Hi Megan, of course: I have to reboot my iPad which is currently running on OS 16.2 (20C65). Then Dropbox in the Files app will work for editing approximately four .jpgs and then it will freeze and I need to reboot again. Dropbox is on version 310.3.2.

Thanks for your help!

Nancy

@mirismile, did you start having this issue after an upgrade perhaps?

Also, have you tried to clear the Dropbox app’s cache, uninstall it, restart your device and then, reinstall the mobile app once again?

Dragon Personal Management

For some background This has been going on for months in fact over a year I think and many people have tried rebooting reinstalling re-everything. Nothing works in my mind this is a problem between Apple and dropbox. This doesn’t happen if you just use dropbox app to access files on its own and it doesn’t happen if you just use the Apple‘s file app on its own say on iCloud files and not accessing dropbox. Therefore there is some sort of demon that runs sitting between files app and dropbox and when you access dropbox through or via the Files app this is when the problem occurs it doesn’t matter what you do it will always occur eventually. many users have now experienced it. I have stated this on multiple occasions. Unfortunately neither Apple nor dropbox seem keen to do anything about it.
Unfortunately, if you want to say attach multiple documents to something that Apple uses for say Safari or another website or anything else you will encounter the problem because you are accessing your files through the files app going to dropbox and that causes the problem.
I have tried many ways to resolve the problem. The quickest and simplest is to reboot which instantly solves the problem. The reason for this is that it will reset anything that is running. One other tell-tale thing which is very interesting is once dropbox has failed. If you try and access it via the Files app you will see you cannot when you press on dropbox absolutely nothing happens you can see no files. However if you then close the Files app and open the Dropbox app, you can see all your files there for the problem is definitely accessing dropbox via the iOS files app.

VinceM50

Thank you for summing this up. I don't know how many times the same thing can be tried over and over.