Hi,Just notice that Dropbox keeps active in the background on iOS, even if i disable it in the settings from iOS. After some testing I found the problem, the integration with the files app causes this problem. If I disable Dropbox within the files app there is no longer background activity from Dropbox. Hope this can be fixed soon because it drains my battery.

I appreciate you keeping us informed Daphne but I would add that I have Google Drive, Box and OneDrive paired in my Files app. There is no spike in their battery consumption. But I find Dropbox near the top of my list of batter consumption & I’m barely using it. Happy to throw it back to Apple, it clearly this is probably just as much a Dropbox thing.

Well, because of this issue and the fact it's been years and DropBox still has not fixed the shortcut issue on iOS devices, I have finally migrated over the OneDrive. We will be canceling our other employees' user accounts. Too bad. Loved DropBox for all these years. But, like most large companies, they quit listening to their customers when they get "big"...

Hi Daphne,I disabled the Dropbox app within the Apple files app, thats the only way to fix the background activity issue.Camera upload is disabled so that is not the issue. Like i said, soon as i disable Dropbox inside the Apple files app the problem is fixed.Anyway this problem is already known by Dropbox but in Januari they said to another user with the same problem that it’s not on there priority list. Strange thing because i think this is a serious problem...

It's shocking how more and more people seem to be discovering this thread and yet STILL no resolution or offer from DropBox to repair damaged hardware. Do we need to send a link to news sources to get anyone to pay attention?

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.

Background activity iOS from the mobile app.

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Daphne
Dropbox Community Moderator
6 years ago
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!
Gedge
Helpful | Level 5
6 years ago
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.
chinarut
Helpful | Level 6
6 years ago
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
pabe
New member | Level 2
6 years ago
Hi Daphne, thanks and just ‘voting’ for this ongoing issue.

I observed significant background usage from Dropbox. For me 59mins each hour. My battery usage graph is maxed out every hour, daily with Dropbox usage including overnight.

I noted above comment, and I can confirm this completely ceased when I switched of connection to iOS Files App.

Dropbox still installed. Current iOS 13.5.1 & Dropbox app up to date. Photos sync NOT on.

So it seems issue is isolated only to link with Files App.

Let me know if I can provide any more information. Hope we have an update soon.

Thanks.
centvin
New member | Level 2
6 years ago
Dropbox iPhone APP uses a lot of battery despite "background APP refresh" is OFF. see pic.
To avoid long disscusions with Dropbox-Support, I uninstalled Dropbox on my Phone. Just to let know, that even if "background APP refresh" is OFF, it uses the biggest part of background activity.
Vukodlak75
Explorer | Level 3
6 years ago
Well, I just notice this to. I disabled Dropbox in the Files app and its all good now. This needs to be fixed ASAP.
Daphne
Dropbox Community Moderator
6 years ago
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!
Jason G.21
New member | Level 2
6 years ago
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.
Churu2k3
Explorer | Level 4
6 years ago
Exact same situation here. I only recently noticed when I was looking for the cause of my battery drain. Most definitely Dropbox is running in background and using up my battery (even when the Background App Refresh is off) as long as it’s connected to the files app. NO OTHER CLOUD STORAGE APP CONNECTED TO THE FILES APP DOES THIS. Therefore it’s no valid to blame this behavior on Apple’s File App. Had to disable the integration with Files. So now Dropbox’s usefulness is reduced for me, and I’m seriously considering moving my files altogether from Dropbox. I was reading this thread and I’m surprised to find out this issue has been reported several months ago and Dropbox still hasn’t acknowledged it
AnaCristina
New member | Level 2
6 years ago
Same for me. I thought I was crazy that lately I've seen how my battery basically drains overnight for no reason. Last night I decided to unplug the phone overnight, after waiting for it to charge to 80%. When I woke up, I had only 62% battery. Guess what app drained it!
That's right, Dropbox.
My health battery is 100% and I actually freaked out that my battery is going down so fast with a new phone. 120 h in the background in 10 days is a lot! And background refresh was always off btw.
Fix your app Dropbox!