Apple Silicon (M1) Desktop Sync Compatibility

[donbkatz]

We just bought our first M1 MacBook, and had to move some of our files off of it, because a key app became too slow accessing the file when it was on Dropbox (it worked fine if it was on iCloud Drive). 

My research shows that Box has a beta available that is native, OneDrive says they will be native by the end of the year. And of course there is iCloud Drive - which is tempting because we are an all Mac shop. 

Without any information on when/if Dropbox will have a native app, we will begin the process of migrating to another cloud drive solution within the next couple months - so I hope you hear that there is a need, and begin to do something about it. We've been on Dropbox since near the time it first started. 

[Christopher D.10]

@donbkatz 

My company is migrating away from Dropbox as well because of a lack of native Apple Silicon Support.  Beware of OneDrive...It is limited by archaic Windows folder/file naming conventions (thank you SharePoint).  We have 1000's of files and folders that would need to be renamed because either the entire folder/file then is too long for OneDrive or they contain characters not supported in OneDrive file/folder names.  

I have been running the Apple Silicon Box beta and it is good.  The only downside of Box for us is that they do not support the same SmartSync features as DropBox (selective sync...yes, smart sync no).  This will suck in the short term on our machines that do not have a lot of available drive space, but they will be replaced over the next year with M1X macs.

Good luck with you migration!  Dropbox is losing a nice corporate contract from my company because they refuse to modernize the mac app for Apple Silicon (SHM).

[gym321]

I thought it was a joke when I couldn't find a native M1 client for Dropbox. Are you kidding me, the company that brags about The cloud-based file sharing company in Q1 saw a 30 percent year-over-year increase in paid users of... and yet is too cheap to hire the software engineers to create a native M1 client making users vote for it and then simply quit the service? 

"Non-GAAP net income for the quarter was $141.8 million, or 35 cents per share. Revenue was $511.6 million, up 12 percent year-over-year" and you have no money to develop a simple client? I am looking for an alternative too as your software eats huge amount of resources. 

[xmetal]

So as of today we are on the second generation of M1 Macs, and still no native app. I feel really helpless on this, as it will be logistically very difficult to move around all my files that I have relied on Dropbox to selectively sync for a decade now. I do not like being trapped by pathetically poor engineering with no good alternative. I guess that's the problem...they know it's hard to move and there isn't enough competition, so Dropbox feels they can ignore their customers.

This is not a feature request that needs "community votes". This is a basic software compatibility. Get your sh!t together, this is not freeware. I actually pay more per year for Dropbox than almost any other app or online service. 

[strutton]

Really this isn't even on the roadmap yet? DB should really address this issue or face the loss of Mac users. I've been with DB for as long as I can remember and as soon as we upgrade our MacBook Pros, it will be a very easy decision to leave. 

[elt]

Dropbox is too busy spending their money on cringeworthy product placements in movies. Much easier to move to one of the many competitors which don't eat up half my ram.

[xmetal]

I’ve been a customer for well over a decade, but yesterday I took the time to move everything into iCloud Drive, make sure I had backups of everything from Dropbox and uninstalled the app from all my devices. 

You had a year to make your software not negatively impact the actual usability of my M1 Mac, and you failed. It was a minor hassle to move everything and unless they lose millions of customers it won’t make a difference, but I feel better knowing that my money won’t go to a company with poor management, poor customer service and a truly clueless future plan.

What a shame. 

[Mannaffolki]

Where are @Megan and @Hannah  when you need them.

Time for another generic comment on this thread, ladies?

Make my day!

[Marc A.6]

I kid you not, one of the great news on Dropbox's blog is...

SharePoint integration. SharePoint. Welcome to 2001! 

https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/product/hellosign-s-new-sharepoint-integration-makes-your-workflows-...

Please check their blog, check their other articles, it's telling - they are completely out of touch with reality. We've lost them.

[Esbozo]

People using Mac, you should use Maestral (Maestral). It's an Open source Dropbox client, with support for MacOS, better features and less resource consumption.

In my case, it consumes 5 times less RAM! I thank the open-source community for carrying out this project, something that should have been done by the company itself...