Usage of one Dropbox Account and connect to the same account from multiple sessions in an app

[rmmonagas]

Greetings,

I will be building a Mobile App that will be connecting to one Dropbox account to get some files and download them to the local storage of the mobile phone. Could I ask if I can use just one account and multiple connections at the same time to it? Let's say around thousands of people using an app in iOS or Android and connecting to the same account via API?

If it's possible, what's the limit of connections at the same time? If not possible, do you see a way to solve it? Since we require to use the Dropbox Account that contains all the files for the mobile app.

[Jay]

Hi there, I’ve moved your post to the API forum for our specialist to help out!

[Greg-DB]

The API was designed with the intention that each user would link their own Dropbox account, in order to interact with their own files. It is technically possible to connect to just one account like you describe, but we don't recommend doing so, for various technical and security reasons, especially in client-side apps like on iOS or Android.

Doing so would involve embedding an access token for the desired account in the app itself. A malicious user could then extract that access token from the app though.

Also, the Dropbox API does have a rate limiting system, but we don't have any specific numbers documented. The limits operate on a per-Dropbox user basis, so if you have all of your end-users connect to the same account, you're more likely to hit rate limits. There isn't a way to disable the rate limiting.