Dropbox acquires Boxcryptor. What will happen to all those files that have been encrypted?

chrissosThanks for your comments. Yes, just in case this is not clear to everyone, even non-paying Boxcryptor customers can still use Boxcryptor with a local account if they downloaded their keys before January 31st. However, it was not an option for me to use an encryption tool that is no longer officially supported for my free plan. Instead, it's cheaper and more convenient to switch to a cloud service that comes with zero-knowledge encryption out of the box, and you don't have to run two applications.

Well, according to the Boxcryptor press release, that product will be part of Dropbox for business users. At the moment, the least expensive Business plan is $20/month. I already have a paid Dropbox plan at something less than that, and will pay the difference to get Boxcryptor functionality back. 

I haven't run the numbers, but, as a paid Boxcryptor user, I could "credit" the discontinued Boxcryptor cost towards a Dropbox Business plan.

Or, as others have pointed out, you could download your Boxcryptor keys and run the now-unsupported program locally, but someday a new Mac OS release will break it (like TrueCrypt years ago).

HRS2403I agree with what you wrote. I was using Boxcryptor for free because I got enough devices with affiliate links. My Dropbox plan was $9.99/month (2TB). Even if soon available at Dropbox Business, I would not be willing to pay an additional ten dollars a month or even more just for the encryption. Simply because I meanwhile found a cheaper solution. There was no compelling reason for me to stay with Dropbox at any cost.

I decided to try using Boxcryptor with a Local Account. The idea was to somehow insulate myself against Boxcryptor shutting down, making my encrypted files useless.

I put a sample encrypted file on my desktop, with the downloaded Key file. I signed into Boxcryptor and selected Local Account. Now, I still needed my old Boxcryptor account password to unlock the Key file. No problem (as long as you have that password written down).

Then I was able to open the encrypted file.

But, just to test completely offline use of Boxcryptor, I turned off wi-fi and signed out of Boxcryptor.

Then, I tried to sign back into Boxcryptor while offline, but it won't work.

So, I'm not at all sure I can simply run Boxcrytor locally without access to their online-stored credentials, which situation would presumably lock me out once my current license expires in a couple of months.

Maybe somehow has figured this out...

HRS2403 it works well, I also tested it offline. But it sounds that you probably do it the wrong way testing somehow on the desktop. All you have to do is switch to local account in the BC settings, using the downloaded key when being asked for. Afterwards everything works on the fly same as before. You have your BC drive where you can see all the encrypted files without encryption while you can't open them in the Dropbox folder where they are actually located and where they show the file extension .bc. As long as the Boxcryptor app runs on future MacOS version, you can continue to use it without big restrictions compared to how it was before. Only disadvantage is that you won't be able to use the iOS app anymore and won't have access to your files on your iPhone. And of course the Mac app will no longer get patches in case that (security) bugs will be discovered. That's just one of the reasons why I changed to alternatives. 

OK, thanks, I'll try again.

But once Boxcryptor has disappeared, I don't think you could ever use it on a new device, since you have to be able to log in to something that no longer exists for the MacOS app to work. Or?

HRS2403 yes, most probably another valid point why Boxcryptor is no good solution anymore cause you don't want to face a situation when you suddenly can't decrypt your files, for what reason ever. I downloaded the last .dmg-file but I doubt that a clean installation is possible without Boxcryptor's servers being available anymore sooner or later. Too many unanswered questions. I just keep the keys and BC on my Mac for a situation when I still find an encrypted file that needs to get decrypted. Without this forum I already forgot about Boxcryptor and Dropbox. Funny how things in life change...

HRS2403 glad you managed to use it properly now...on a long term you should definitely look for a new solution but there is and never was a reason to panic just because Boxcryptor ended the service for unpaid plans. Interesting to see whether encrypted Boxcryptor files will be later compatible with Dropbox's new zero-knowledge encryption...

As detailed above, I was able to get Boxcryptor working on an offline Mac in Local Account mode. I can even sign out, then sign in while still offline, so the Boxcryptor mothership does not have to be available. Thanks to Martin R.19 for his advice.

Now, I have a second Mac that I also use with Boxcryptor-encrypted files. I converted to Local Account mode on that Mac as well, with both computers using the same key file.

The good news is that I can have Dropbox sync the files, just as always, and still use Boxcryptor on both, now in Local Account mode. Everything works exactly as before, so it's as if Boxcryptor is staying around indefinitely. As mentioned by others above, this will work until it doesn't, so this is not a great solution for the long term. Realizing this, though, pending full integration of Boxcryptor into Dropbox, at least I don't have to completely redo my entire security workflow immediately.