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The user I referred signed in to the mobile app, but Dropbox still says "waiting for install”.

helloworld2026

Hi, there. I referred a new Dropbox user through my referral link. The user created a new account through the link, verified the email address, and installed and signed in to the Dropbox mobile app.

My referral page states that the referred user must “create a Dropbox account and install the desktop or mobile app.” However, the referral status still shows “Waiting for install” after 24 hours.

The current Help Center articles appear to say that the desktop app is required, which conflicts with the wording shown on my referral page.

Does the mobile app currently qualify for the referral bonus? If it does, could a Dropbox moderator please help review why the installation has not been recognized?

Thank you!

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Nancy

Hi @helloworld2026, and thanks for your post!

The user you’ve referred will need to install the desktop app indeed, and sign in with their new Dropbox account, as well (as mentioned here).

However, can you send me a screenshot of what you see at your "Refer a friend" page, so that I can take a look? If your email address/the recipient’s is visible in the screenshot, please make sure to mask it first.

Keep me in the loop.

helloworld2026

Thank you for the quick reply! Attached is the referral requirement I got under "Settings > Refer a Friend". It clearly says "desktop or mobile app".

I'm unsure how the desktop app requirement would work, if the referred user only has a Chromebook and an iPhone. From https://help.dropbox.com/integrations/google-files-app, Chromebook actually uses Dropbox Android app. So it's still a mobile app, right?

Thank you!

helloworld2026

Dropbox_referral_2026_0803.png

Attach the screenshot again. Not sure why the initial version has such low resolution.

helloworld2026

It seems the upload automatically lower the resolution. The original image is 52KB, while the downloaded one becomes only 8KB. But if it's zoomed in, we can still see "mobile app".

Jay

Thanks for the image. Currently, to automatically activate a referral, the user would need to install the Dropbox desktop application on a compatible OS, namely Windows, Mac or Linux.

Chromebooks would only install a mobile app version, so those wouldn't be considered a desktop app.

Does the user not have a device with any of the above OSes installed on that machine?

helloworld2026

The user may have an older Mac. I’ll pass that suggestion along.

That said, it seems to me that more and more people are using mobile devices, including phones, tablets, and Chromebooks. Therefore, the wording on the “Refer a Friend” page makes sense by indicating that installing the mobile app should satisfy the installation requirement.

Does anyone know why the actual experience differs from what is advertised? Is mobile-app qualification perhaps an experimental feature that is still being rolled out?

Thank you!

Hannah

Hi from me as well, @helloworld2026!

I'd love to investigate this a bit further over email, if you don't mind, so I messaged you on the email address associated with your Dropbox Community profile here.

I'll see you there!

b3njamin

Nancy, just to follow up on an aspect of what Helloworld posted: in the "Refer a friend" tab of the Settings page, it does say that you'll receive the storage bonus when the new account "create[s] a Dropbox account and install the desktop or mobile app" [emphasis mine].

So I'm curious why installing just the mobile app doesn't see to grant the bonus. The advice here — you have to install the desktop app — doesn't seem to match the language, which I think is part of the confusion.

If you can't just install the mobile app, why does it say "or"? Shouldn't that language be changed to reflect the actuality that you have to install a desktop app?

b3njamin

It's certainly part of my confusion, anyway, and why I finally created an account to comment here after being a Dropbox member for a long, long time.