Can I use Smart Sync on a mobile device?

[George J.1]

Can I use smart Sync on an android phone like a note 9?

[Daphne]

Hey there @George J.1,

Smart sync is a feature just for the desktop app as it syncs your Dropbox account files to your computer and smarty sync helps to save hard drive space. This isn’t available on a mobile devices as the Dropbox mobile app doesn’t sync your files to the internal storage.

The mobile app is more similar to viewing your files via the web since they aren’t stored locally. However, you do have the option to make selected files available offline so that you can access them without an internet connection. The default for the mobile app though is to not have any files available offline unless made so by the user.

Hope this clarifies the matter - Cheers!

[George J.1]

Hi Daphne,
Thank you for responding. I should have been more descriptive. With my old galaxy s7, I could designate Dropbox as cloud account just like ms onedrive or google drive. In that way I could move or copy files directly to Dropbox without opening the app. After I posted the question I found out that the note9 does not allow Dropbox to setup as a cloud account. So now file uploads have to be initiated from within the Dropbox android app. So is this an issue caused by note9 architecture or by Dropbox?

[Rich]

That's a function controlled by Samsung; not Dropbox.

• https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Mobile/What-do-the-changes-for-Samsung-users-mean/m-p/262498/highlig...

[George J.1]

Ok Rich,
Thank you. I followed your link. Your reply seems to indicate you are annoyed? Just so you know, before I posted the question I attempted to search the database for an answer and I talked to Samsung. I previously used a S7 and it was able to setup Dropbox as an account. I had no reason to suspect Note9 would take a step backward. The reps at Samsung didn't mention it was due to Samsung using an older API. But of course they didn't. In fact at first, until I showed them by letting them remote into my phone, they acted as though they didn't understand the issue.
I think the bigger question is why did Samsung choose to go back to older API, I wonder? It appears they did the same with Amazon Cloud Drive. Furthermore, what I don't understand either, is why wouldn't these giant companies, (I know Dropbox is not as giant a Samsung or Amazon but still giant), talk to each other about this and take the user perspective in mind instead of taking their metaphorical balls home and refuse to play nice together?

[Rich · Accepted solution]

Annoyed? Not at all. And Dropbox didn't go back to an older API. They simply didn't update to the new one, and then the old API was retired and shut down.

The tools exist for Samsung to allow such connectivity on their devices. Dropbox makes it available through the updated API. It's on Samsung to decide whether or not to support it and to build it into their apps.