Beta Build 110.3.425

Any news on this, Dropbox? It's been over a year and still no M1 support. Shaaaaaaame.
An update is urgently required so all us M1 users can finally start working again without all current issues.

Why all this buzz ?

Dropbox works fine with Rosetta. Point. 

Get the latest build and try it out and stop complaining please. 

dolfke  - that's three times you've come into this thread to make the same comment.

Why all this buzz?

Because dev kits were out 9 months ago.

Because Rosetta isn't as efficient as native

Because if they're not keeping current on this, then what other performance or security improvements to MacOS are they also not using.

Why all this effort from you apologizing on behalf of Dropbox for slow/lazy/incompetent development.

@djellison — seconding your opinion. We need native support. Not now, not even yesterday, but months ago.
Devs, better get to work before Apple changes to new hardware again.

A native Apple Silicon version looks like a long way ahead. Apple Silicon Macs have tighter security which prevents system extensions (which Dropbox uses) from running until the user boots into Recovery mode and enable them. This makes installing Dropbox more difficult for the average user, which is probably why no native version is available.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchl768f7291/mac

I can understand, from a support view that Dropbox is hesitant to have users go through the procedure, but they lack in communication about the reason a native Apple Silicon version does not exist yet. The current version runs OK on my Intel machine, but uses too much resources on my M1 Macbook, but this is also due to having a lot of bloat in the new application which I do not need and if not fixed will probably make me switch to another cloud service, enough choices out there... 🙂

It looks like Dropbox (and other sync services) will 'need' to switch their apps to the File Provider Framework from Apple, which is built in the OS and is also used by iCloud (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/fileprovider)

I switched to another service, that runs natively on M1 since monthes, offers a comparable kind of service and only take less than 100Mb of Memory. It is apparently possible to do so, but DropBox seems to not be ready for that kind of work.

Come now, you can't say "another service" and not tell us which one! 🙂

I, personally, am setting up (well, have set up) a NextCloud server on a Raspberry Pi and am considering moving the data and functionality for which I use Dropbox to it. It doesn't have some key handy features of Dropbox Pro though (namely smart sync), so I wouldn't recommend it as a Dropbox replacement.

I also tried pCloud. M1 is supported, but also no native Apple Silicon app (at least a few months ago). Works great, has an (expensive) encryption add-on, you can also choose for 500GB storage (if you do not need 2TB) and you can have your data on EU (or US) servers. The App uses less memory compared to Dropbox and the company is responsive to questions.

I have read some reports of users that where (falsely) charged with having explicit material in their cloud storage, pCloud has very strict rules and deletes/disables your account without warning, until you prove they are wrong which seems impossible. I personally did not have any problems with the service and may switch to pCloud in the future.

So, the 110.3.425 beta did actually install and run on my M1 (without Rosetta 2), but immediately complains that the app is outdated, with no way to update to a newer beta build...what gives? How do I get this to work?

You installed an old version, just download it from https://www.dropbox.com/install which (I think) is the latest version.

But Dropbox still uses Rosetta 2 because it is not an Apple Silicon native app. (at least not on my M1 Macbook)

I installed Dropbox from that link and after install it indeed automatically updates to version v123.4.4832. You can find other version here, there seems to be a more recent stable build (124.4.4912): https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Desktop-client-builds/ct-p/101003000

But Dropbox does not publish release notes (at least not in that location) and it is unknown what changed.

As far as I know there is no native Apple Silicon version for the dropbox client. It does work on Apple Silicon, but uses Rosetta 2 (in Activity Monitor the architecture shows Intel). It runs without problems on my M1 Macbook and memory usage does not defer (much) from my Intel Macbook.. so it is inefficient on memory with both platforms ;-)..

Are you sure rosetta is not installed? According to MacOS it still is an Intel binary. You won't see Rosetta running, it just translates the app on first run and installation of Rosetta is very fast. 

Oh SNAP! You're right! How in the hell did that happen? I have denied all attempts to install Rosetta, so far, and now this?

**bleep**, I'll have to see now whether it was installed somehow and whether there is some way to uninstall it. Sorry, but I really thought those threads were about Universal betas...I guess I'm back to getting away from Dropbox, after 10 years of being a Pro subscription customer...ridiculous that they still don't have a Universal beta...shameful.

Upon further research, Dropbox is the *only* intel app on my new macOS 12 Beta system.

Oh, the irony, that it would be Dropbox that installed Rosetta 2 while I was trying to install a Dropbox version that works without Rosetta 2...foolish me, and dam* you, Dropbox!

Now I'll have to re-install or try to make this solution work:

There is no need to remove Rosetta 2. It does not do anything unless you start an Intel binary. I have read an article where they describe some way to remove Rosetta 2, but I would only try it if you know what you are doing: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/669486

Dropbox is very silent about a native Universal Dropbox client version, I also have doubts about how optimised the Universal binary for Dropbox will be, as the current client easily consumes 1 GB of memory on my Intel iMac doing nothing :S.

That's the same link that I got those instructions from that I put at the end of my last response. Will have to see whether it's worth the trouble. But thanks for the encouraging words...so, there is zero slow-down to my all Apple Silicon system if I don't actuate an Intel app?

Looks like I'll remove Dropbox again and cancel my subscription next chance I can get...I have spent dozens of hours working with Dropbox to help them figure out a nasty bug, but I just don't see them take their users' concerns serious as is shown by the fact that the client still hogs memory like it's 1999, and that they still don't have an Apple Silicon version like it's November 2020.

Why oh why?

Thanks for your help!

> so, there is zero slow-down to my all Apple Silicon system if I don't actuate an Intel app?

Correct. Rosetta only runs when needed to make an Intel binary run on Apple Silicon, and then, once that is finished, Rosetta quits.