Camera upload from different phones into different folders

[Bjarne S.]

Hello,
I have created a new folder "Camera upload Karla" where I want my wifes iPhone to automatically upload photos to.
This seems not to be so easy, as Dropbox on a phone will only upload to "Camera Upload" folder. Is this correct?
How can I make her iPhone upload automatically to the new folder?
Thank you

[Mark]

Nothing has changed and Dropbox also do not release roadmaps I'm afraid as @Rich said last week.

[Mike603]

It is my opinion that Dropbox does not want to do this because they believe that they will sell more accounts this way.

Their answer to this issue has always been "Dropbox was not designed to backup more than one phone at a time.  If you want to keep your data seperate you will need to purchase seperate accounts for each phone"

Considering the number of requests for this and the number of years this has been requested this is obviously a marketing decision and has nothing to do with technology or what the customer wants.

Dropbox please prove me wrong.  Please show us that you actually care about what the customer wants and not just corporate profits.

There are some moderately functional alternatives to do this for Android but unfortunatley none for the iPhone (I don't think Apple would allow a program in the iStore that could possibly take sales away from iCloud storage).

[Mark]

Actually Mike in my opinion I think its more to do with the fact they are totally moving away from photos and anything to do with them (e.g. removal of albums etc.)

However, yes, I agree that the security thing is a big issue - Dropbox have always been exceptionally strict on one user = one account which isnt really that unreasonable.

[Mike603]

Mark,

I don't know abouit albums, to be honest I don't use dropbox for sharing photos.  As for the security, if I choose to share my account with my wife I should be able to do that.

Maybe Dropbox needs a new paradigm.  That of a family account Package.  One bill per family but with the ability to create multiple "sub-accouns".

Each sub-account could have the option of linking to zero or more other sub-accounts and one or more devices.

All devices linked to a single subaccount would be synchronized.  For example my wife's iPad and iPhone, everything on one would also appear on the other).

Any sub-account linked to another sub-account would appear as a separate folder on the device.  For example, my wife's photos would appear as a "Wife's Photos" folder on my tablet or phone.

The granularity of what is shared and what is not shared between linked sub-accounts would be up to Dropbox but as an engineer I would like to see as much control given to me as possible.

Theoretically each device being backed up could have a different login but still under the same family account.   Possibly even to the point where parents could setup a "child's account" which would allow the account administrator to view and control the "child's account".

This could actually be a marketing feature where parents can keep better track of their children.  I can think of many features that could be part of this package.

Imagine the following scenario:

A family of mom, dad and son, each having a phone and a tablet and there is a family computer and dad has a laptop.

Sub-Accounts and Linked Devices

Mom

     Phone

     Tablet

     Family Computer

Dad

      Phone

      Tablet

      Laptop

Son

       Phone

       Tablet

Linked sub-accounts

Dad

       Family Computer

       Son's Sub-Account

Mom

        Family Computer

        Son's Sub-Account

Son

        Family Computer

In addition Son's phone could periodically send it's location to the family account so mom or dad could check on where he is.

In the above scenario mom and dad can see everything in sons sub-account but son cannot see what is in mom's or dad's sub-account.

This would be worth the same $99 I am paying now for a pro account.

I believe alot of these features already exist for business accounts.

I am seriously looking to switch to another cloud storage like Google just because of this phone issue.

One other thing that is required is a proper app for the iOS that can backup Apple products completely to something other than iCloud.

[Mark]

They wont launch a product like what you said above for that price simply because a lot of the costs they have are not the storage its the support of the users and the connections to and from the servers (paid per time).

Also, if they did that all of the $750pa users on Business would simply downgrade.

[Mike603]

How about the following price structure for the family package:

Basic Family:                        $50/year with 2 sub-accounts and 256GB of shared storage

Family Plus:                          $75/year with 4 sub-accounts and 512GB of shared storage

Family Deluxe:                   $100/year with 6 sub-accounts and 1TB  of shared storage

Additional sub-account:    $10/year with no additional shared storage

Additional sub-account:    $15/year with additional 128GB of shared storage

Additional sub-account:    $25/year with additional 256GB of shared storage

Maximum 10 sub-accounts per family plan.

Extra shared storage:          $12/year for 128GB

Extra shared storage:          $22/year for 256GB

Extra shared storage:          $42/year for 512GB

Extra shared storage:          $75/year for 1TB

This would make it cost comparible to the pro plan and not really competitive with the business plan.

I realize this is just an idea but I'm trying to give Dropbox marketing a way of helping fill their customer's needs without affecting their revenue significantly.

And finally, the security excuse for requiring multiple accounts does't hold water for families, it would be the customer's understanding that a family account does not offer the same kind of security as does individual accounts.  Similar to the business accounts.

[MVIN]

Agreed this feature is really really needed, it should be possible to select the name of the folder where the backup goes to.

[AndyBecJess]

The easiest way would be to create a separate new account and share that folder to your main account. that way you have visibility of both on your main account.. Every now and again you can move the files from the shared folder into a permanent folder on your main account if you have more space so that the new account doesn't fill up.

[MVIN]

Andybecjess, this is not a useful solution for me, I have two phone a tablet and a camera my wife has the same and kids has phones, if I have to create a new account for each device this will be a big hassel to maintain. Luckly I have found a seperate app which solved the issue but it would be much appriciated if it was build in to dropbox. Im considering if I really want to continue with my payed dropbox because of this

[Mark]

Out of interest @MVIN what is the app?