Public link for files in dropbox

To clarify a bit, "public links" refers to an older method of sharing that only applies to items in the Public folder:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/16

"Shared links" refers to a new method of sharing that can be applied to any item, regardless of location in the Dropbox account:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/167

On the API side of things, if you want to just access file content directly in your app, you should use /files (GET), which corresponds to the loadFile method in the iOS Core SDK.

If that doesn't work for you though, you can use /media, which returns a temporary direct link to the file content. This corresponds to the loadStreamableURLForFile method in the iOS Core SDK.

Finally, if you want a shareable link, which doesn't expire (but can be revoked by the user), you can use /shares, which is accessible via the loadSharableLinkForFile method in the iOS Core SDK. Also, shareable links can be modified for different behaviors as noted here:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/201

The API doesn't offer a way to request Public links though, but in most cases one of the above methods should be suitable. (Not all accounts have Public folders anyway.)