Automatic photo upload not working on Android Pixel 6

[JasonDunn]

I have a Pixel 6 and the Dropbox app won't upload photos taken on my phone. Things I've tried:

1) Toggling photo backup off and on (several times)

2) Purging the app cache, forcing a re-login 

3) Logged out, logged back in

4) Uninstalled, re-installed Dropbox from scratch via Google Play Store

If I go into the Dropbox Camera Uploads > hit the plus sign > and take a photo, that photo immediately uploads. So that functionality seems to be intact.  When I take a photo with the Android 6 camera app, that photo doesn't show up anywhere in Dropbox - but it shows up in the Photos app - so it seems as though the Dropbox app can't "see" the photos I'm taking on my phone.

My wife's phone is logged into my account as well for photo uploads, and photos aren't being uploaded from her phone either.

Any known fixes for this? It makes Dropbox 100% useless for me since my primary use case for Dropbox is photo transfers. Everything seemed to be working well until a few weeks ago, but I didn't purposefully change anything.

[Megan]

Hey @JasonDunn, happy Monday! 

Do you use cellular data or WiFi to connect? Have you tried switching from one to the other? 

Let me know!

[HappyOctopus]

What folder does your Camera app save the photos to? Is it possible that it changed recently?

[JasonDunn · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the replies! I continued to troubleshoot this on my own and it turns out the culprit was the Background Restrictions setting under Camera Uploads. It was set to "Yes", so that was stopping the uploads from occuring. I didn't change this setting, nor did my wife on her phone, so I'm wondering if a recent Dropbox update changed this? Now that I changed it to "No" and approved the background usage, everything is working like it did before.

[CaptainDave]

Unfortunately that doesn't work for me. Been having this problem for years. Drives me nuts. I have to login to Dropbox in order to see an upload on my PC. Help

[Megan]

Hi @CaptainDave, let's jump right into this! 

Can you explain and provide me with some more info in regards to this? 

What are the steps you follow on your end to get to that point? 

Let me know more, and we'll take it from there. 

[CaptainDave]

When I take a picture I have to go into dropbox app in order for it to push my picture to dropbox.  All my settings appear to be correct.  It's been happening on my last 4 phones.  I have pixel 10XL and latest android and app software.  Thanks

[Nancy]

Sorry to jump in, @CaptainDave. 

So, if I get this right, you need to open your Dropbox mobile app, in order for the files to upload automatically, correct? 

If you haven’t checked this already, can you please take a look at this Help Center article, and let me know if you’ve tried all of the given steps? 

This way, we can isolate the issue further.

[CaptainDave]

OK, I'm not crazy, lets start by saying that.  🙂  I went through suggestions in article and one of them were in Camera uploads and to turn off battery optimization.  Here's the crazy part.  The option to toggle battery optimization WAS NOT THERE the other day, NOR was it ever there for the years I've been using it.  Must have been in the last update I just did..  I did toggle it off and will keep you updated.

Secondly, I also cleared my cache this morning and will monitor.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Megan]

Any time, @CaptainDave!

Keep us updated and give us a shout if you need anything else.