Background activity iOS from the mobile app.

Any update on this? I've also been having this issue for several months now, and the issue persists in iPadOS 14 beta. Between this issue and the search function not working for Dropbox in the Files app, I think I'm going to have to move everything out of my Dropbox to another cloud service. 

Thanks for your updates here peeps!

Would you mind Lee S.9 sending me a screenshot of the difference in battery consumption you're seeing between Dropbox and the other apps that are locations within the Files app too?

There should be some background activity but for it to be so greatly increased wouldn't really be expected.

Can you also send me a screenshot ChrisGaff of the background activity shown in your device settings and the battery consumption shown?

Cheers!

Here's a screenshot from my iPhone when I woke up this morning. I'm having a similar experience with my iPad Pro. 

Hi ChrisGaff; sorry to jump in here.

I'm not sure if this has anything to do with what you noticed, but could you check if this is happening with the latest stable version of iOS and iPadOs and not the beta one? 

While at it, have you tried re-installing the app at all since you first saw this?

Hi Walter this issue was happening on the latest stable version of iOS and iPadOS before I updated to the iOS / iPadOS 14 beta. This issue has been happening for a while now. I did try reinstalling the app both before and after installing the beta and the issue continued. I currently have Dropbox disabled in the Files app on my iPad Pro and I'm no longer seeing the battery issue, so it's definitely an issue with the Files app integration. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help. Would love to get this issue resolved for myself and the many others also experiencing it. Thank you!

Thanks for your updates here peeps!

It would be expected to see the Dropbox app showing background activity if it's enabled in the Files app as a location. There's a little more detail on this in my previous post here.

However ChrisGaff and mrsneeu, can you let me know if it's showing a large increase in battery consumption by:

1. Opening the Settings app.
2. Going to "Battery".
3. At the top of the apps list, tap the option "Show Battery Usage".

Can you send me a screenshot of the % that the Dropbox app is showing there?

Cheers!

I have exactly the same problem. And not only is it draining my battery, but I notice my iPad is sluggish. I have no choice but to delete the app off my iPad.

Seems like Dropbox is the only app that keeps running in the background consistently for me accounting for 12m of battery every hour when in idle... No other of my 100+ apps on my iPad do that.

Thanks for joining us here lestmak!

If you haven't already checked the previous posts, you can have a look here for some more info on why Dropbox appears as using background activity.

If you disable Dropbox as a location within the Files app, you should no longer see background activity for the Dropbox app on your device.

However, since you mentioned it's using a lot of battery on your device for this, can you please send me a screenshot of this by following the steps I mentioned above?

Keep me posted!

I'm now also seeing this issue on my iPad Pro running the latest released version of iPadOS. This started on the 2nd July when the App was updated to 196.2.

My overall background usage has gone from a few 10s of minutes to 5 or 6 hours and it's all Dropbox!

Richard

Thanks for all your updates here everyone!

For a little more info on why you may see the Dropbox app showing background activity, please check out my previous post here.

If you're seeing a high battery usage on your device, then please send me a screenshot of this so that I can look into this further with you. For example, on my personal device the background activity shows 10 hours+ but the battery usage is less than 1%.

If you're not sure on how to show the battery usage instead of the activity, please check out the steps here.

Let me know if you have any questions!

My question is why Dropbox is doing this but no other Application is.I have several other cloud based file apps but none of them is showing such high background usage. Sure the battery usage is shown as low but nether the less the operating system is having to wake up to service the Dropbox activity so it must be using more battery than an app that has little or no background activity.

I concur with others - I don't think it is acceptable for Dropbox to use 10h in the background even if it only uses 1%.

It would be fine to do a check when I open Dropbox.app, Files.app or when I open the file picker in another app (and only when I choose a file, which is not very frequently) [or maybe once every 15 min or hour like Mail.app]

EDIT: I am on iPadOS 13.5.1

Well, I just notice this to. I disabled Dropbox in the Files app and its all good now. This needs to be fixed ASAP.

Hey everyone, thanks for your patience while I looked into this!

So that we can do some additional investigation into this, I've reached out to each of you here so we can have a look into this alongside device specific info.

When you have the chance, please check your inbox for my message and we can take it from there.

Let me know if you don't receive my message or have any questions!

I am having the same issue.  Dropbox for iOS is draining my battery when the iPad is sitting ideal.

• No offline files
• connected to Files.app
• Background Activity "on"

Seems like a glitch or bug to allow Dropbox to use this much resources when no activity should be taking place.

Thanks for all your updates here!

So that we can do some further investigation into this, please submit a ticket with our Support team with the options available to your plan from here.

If you have any trouble doing so, please let me know here and I can help out with this.

Once you've submitted a ticket with the team, let me know the ticket number (eg. #1234567) so that I can follow up with you there and pass along any info provided here.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Uninstalled, reinstalled Dropbox.  Made sure it was NOT enabled as a Files provider in the iOS Files app.

Ever since, minimal battery drain.  I am now 99.9% sure of the cause, but I wish Dropbox would acknowledge this issue and work on it.

Thank you for your updates here and for everyone's patience!

I just have a small update to share with you, that the team are aware of this issue and our engineers are looking into this.

We don't currently have an ETA on a fix for this, however the suggested work around would be to disable Dropbox within the Files app to prevent battery usage on your device.

I'll be sure to keep you all updated here with any news that I receive on this, especially for those who might not have a ticket open with the Support team for this.

If you have any questions, please give me a nudge here and I'd be happy to help.

Hope you all have a great weekend ahead!