Dropbox became very slow and freezes after iOS 12 update

Thanks for the update tominmt - how are you today?

Have you tried clearing your cache again after you got this problem? Also, can you see these files on the web?

Note that the Camera Uploads feature works differently depending on the kind of device you have. Currently, the upload process has some limitations on iOS devices, specifically with location and background/foreground permissions. It looks like this could be the root cause of the issue you’re experiencing.

There are three things we can do to fix this issue. 

1. Uploading files with the “+” (plus) button:  If you’re manually uploading files using the “+” (plus) button, uploads will only run while the app is in the foreground (in other words, it’s the app you’re actively looking at). 

When the app is put in the background (in other words, you’re actively looking at some other app instead of Dropbox), Dropbox can only run manual uploads for a few minutes. After this, iOS stops the process to save battery on your device.

 To fix this issue, please keep the app in the foreground while an upload is in progress.

2. Auto-uploading from Camera Roll:  If you’re using Camera Uploads to automatically upload photos from Camera Roll to Dropbox, you’ll need to turn on “Background Uploading.” This allows your photos and videos to continue uploading even if you don’t have the app open. To fix this issue, turn on Background Uploading:

1. Open the Dropbox app.
2. Tap the "Home" tab.
3. Tap the gear icon :gear: 
4. Select “Camera Uploads.”
5. Toggle "Background Uploading" to "on." (Or, if it's already set to "on," toggle the setting off and then on again.)

If Background Uploading is turned on but Camera Uploads still stops, changing locations should restart the upload. 

Moreover, bear in mind that our mobile app can be slow on iOS devices if the following are true:

A. You have “iCloud Photo Library” enabled
B. You have “Optimize iPhone Storage” enabled in your iCloud Photo settings

This option (the "Optimize iPhone Storage") stores the high-resolution versions of your files to the cloud, and keeps low-res versions on your device. For Dropbox to upload the high-res file, it has to connect to iCloud’s servers, download the photo, and then sync it to Dropbox. This process can be slowed by the strength of the server connection, and it only works over Wi-Fi.

3. To address this issue, if that is the case, you can try the following:

i. Disable the "Optimize iPhone Storage" setting on your mobile device
ii. Try using Desktop Camera Uploads. This automatically transfers new photos or videos to Dropbox when you plug your device into a computer with the Dropbox desktop app. To use this option, sign in to the Dropbox app on that computer with the same account you're signed in to on your phone. Then connect your phone to that computer (for example, with a USB cord). 

This second option may not be any faster than a mobile upload, yet, if you have a large number of files you can leave Dropbox open overnight to allow the upload to finish. 

I understand these options aren't ideal and our engineering team is actively working to make this better.

I hope this information helps and sorry for the lengthy response. Happy Monday!

PS: If you're still seeing this after all of my suggestions, you can log a ticket with our team so we can have a further look into this with all of our tools available.