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iDrops's avatar
iDrops
New member | Level 1
15 days ago

Questions about using Dropbox on an iPhone as a new iOS user

 

Just bought an iPhone after years with Android Phones, rather confused with the way Dropbox works with an iPhone. Appreciate some help and advise.

A) On an Android, copying a folder from Dropbox to the Phone is a simple select and copy. Found out that for an iPhone, I must first download all the files in the Dropbox folder. Then only can I copy the folder into the iPhone.

    1. Is my understanding correct or have I done/experienced something wrong here?

    
B) When on holiday, I used the phone as a camera for photo taking. On an Android, after a day of photo taking, I will moved all the photos from the folder DCIM (this folder saves all of the photos that is capture using the phone’s camera) into a newly created folder named yyyymmdd in Dropbox. The original photos will then be deleted.

    2. How can I do something similar on an iPhone?
    
    
C. This may not be a Dropbox related question, but in case any iPhone experts come across this post :D
I have copied an existing folder from Dropbox to my iPhone (Foler name : Fav_Photos). I will also be adding photos and videos into this folder progressively as times goes by.
- On an Android, the gallery app (app name: Aves Gallery) will immediately notice any new images and populate the gallery.
- Understand that Photos is the official photos app but none of the images and videos is detected/shown in the Photos app.

    3. How should I proceed to enable the Photos app to auto populate with photos and videos from folder Fav_Photos?
    4. Should I be using a separate gallery app? Which app?

Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

  • iDrops's avatar
    iDrops
    New member | Level 1

    Hi Hannah, thanks for the help.

    A. I've tried out the Camera Uploads feature but was unable to find the folder name "Camera Uploads" in Dropbox. Where can I find this "Camera Uploads" folder?

    B. Regarding your question on how I copied the folder from Dropbox to the iPhone. 

    1. Using the Files app, goto Dropbox
    2. Select the folder "Fav_Photos"
    3. Copy and Paste to "On My iPhone"

    All this is done within the iPhone's Files app.

    • Walter's avatar
      Walter
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

      Hey iDrops - thanks for the additional information. 

      Your camera uploads folder should be visible in your account's homepage, assuming that you're logged into a Dropbox account that has enabled the feature. 

      Also, instead of using the Files app,  have you tried using the Dropbox mobile app directly? 

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hey iDrops, thanks for joining our Community!

    Let's see if I can address all your queries.

    So, with an iPhone, you can open a folder and save all the individual files to your device, but you can't download the folder itself.

    Adding Dropbox to your Files app, though, will help with the folder navigation when using an iPhone.

    Regarding uploading your photos, you can use the Camera Uploads feature, which will automatically upload the photos you take to a folder in your Dropbox called "Camera Uploads".

    This won't delete the originals from your device, though, that will have to be done manually.

    As for point "C", would you mind letting me know how you copied the folder from Dropbox to your device?

    Thanks.

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