I have a continuing problem on a MacBook Pro running the latest 15.3 Sonoma with Dropbox Plus. Periodically I will look for the Dropbox icon in my menu bar and it will not be there, and Activity Monitor says it is not running either. I'll start the Dropbox app again, and it will be visible in the menu bar until the next time it isn't. Seems to be random time lengths. Thoughts?

I have been experiencing this over the past month. Dropbox is quietly crashing/quitting/closing. I use Dropbox desktop all day long. I will go to drag files into my folder, and then expect to get the Green Check Mark indicating it is uploaded...and all of those icons are missing. I then look up to the menu bar and the dropbox icon is missing. So I go to my dock, and re-launch dropbox...wait for things to sync-up and then everything is fine until it happens again. I was thinking I have some weird Keyboard Maestro keystroke that is accidentally killing dropbox. I have no idea what is causing this.I am on a MacStudio M2 Ultra running Sequoia 15.3.1 and Dropbox Ver. 218.4.4348

Yes, the Dropbox.app is the most current version. I was never explicit, but I leave the computer on (sleeping with the clamshell closed) when I am not using it. Somehow it crashes during that configuration.

Thanks for your updates, DHK and nraihani. Just to confirm, you're not getting any error messages, right? The app just crashes silently with the Dropbox icon disappearing from your menu bar? Have you tried reaching out to our support team about this?

Hi Hannah, yes I have reached out to support but they could not help me understand why it was happening. It seems like this is a more pervasive issue with people using Mac M2 and above machines. I have this problem on my new imac (M3) and new Macbook Pro (I think is M2) but have never had it on my older machines (that I still use). Someone in this thread asked me to reply with the ticket number of my previous correspondence with dropbox support, which i did, but then i didn't hear anything back after that. As this seems to be a problem that many mac users are experiencing (also in my workplace, as i have asked people) i wonder if it warrants looking into in a more systematic manner? Thanks for your support.

Same here!In the last few months the app closes itself every now and then without previous noticeApple M1 Pro - sonoma - 14.6.1 (23G93)

The desktop app crashes on my MacBook Pro running Mac OS 15.3

43 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion

sbahles
Helpful | Level 5
3 months ago
That's disappointing. I now have a laptop I cant really use effectively until I get Dropbox reinstalled. Sigh. Thanks for trying.
Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
3 months ago
In that case, I'd recommend getting in touch with our support team directly since they'll be able to help further with account and device specific information at this point sbahles

You can also let us know your ticket ID here so that we can look it up in our system as well, if needed.
sbahles
Helpful | Level 5
3 months ago
Hi Walter,
Its not going well. I uninstalled Dropbox, restarted my mac and opened the terminal. It asked me update my account to use zsh, the current default interactive shell. So I did. Then I typed in the first line. No problem. For the second Line, as instructed, I replaced default location with the location of my dropbox folder as follows: sudo chown -R "$USER" "/Users/shandabahles/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox" That appeared to work. However the next line: sudo chmod -R u+rw “/Users/shandabahles/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox” came back with no such file or directory.
I'm stuck. Can you help?
Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
3 months ago
I'm sorry, I forgot to link the instructions for the advanced reinstall sbahles

You can follow the steps outlined here and let us know of any updates.
sbahles
Helpful | Level 5
3 months ago
Can I get a little more help with the advanced reinstall instructions? Do I just download the offline installer (for apple silicon) and it will guide me through it? Or do I need to delete or deinstall what's on my computer now? if so, what's the best way to do that?
Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
3 months ago
Thanks for the update on this sbahles - much appreciated.

If a simple reinstall didn't help, you can try an advanced reinstall as well. Just make sure to use the offline installer from this page during the process.

Let us know how it goes!
sbahles
Helpful | Level 5
3 months ago
I have already tried reinstalling. Any other ideas?
Nancy
Dropbox Community Moderator
3 months ago
tadashi1, can you please try a basic reinstall of the Dropbox app as well, and let me know if it helps?
Nancy
Dropbox Community Moderator
3 months ago
sbahles, can you reinstall the Dropbox app on your computer, in case you haven’t tried this already?
tadashi1
Helpful | Level 5
3 months ago
I'm experiencing the same issue.
I recently purchased a new MacBook Air 2025 running macOS 15.3.2 and installed Dropbox 220.4.4126. All Dropbox sync processes have completed.
However, when I try to open Dropbox, the menu bar icon briefly appears and then disappears silently. No crash dialog is shown.
I've been using Dropbox on Mac for many years, but this is the first time I've encountered this issue.
Please let me know if any additional information is needed.