Dropbox desktop app crashes on Apple Mac with Apple chip M1 and MacOs Big Sur

[george15]

Even though Dropbox desktop app installation instructions for Apple (in page: https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/desktop/system-requirements) say that:

Note: Dropbox supports Apple M1 on macOS Big Sur 11 or later.

when I download and install Dropbox on my Mac Apple M1 laptop that runs Big Sur 11.2.2, the Dropbox app always crashes when I try to type in my username in the login dialog window.

What's wrong? What needs to be done?

[Daphne]

Hi @george15, thanks for posting!

Do you happen to have any other third party apps, like antivirus or firewall, that could be interfering and causing the crash? If so, can you temporarily disable these apps to see if that helps?

Otherwise, please try the steps to do an advanced reinstall, so that you can do a completely fresh install of the app.

Looking forward to hearing how it goes!

[george15]

Hi @Daphne,

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I do indeed have antivirus and firewall programs, but I don't believe they were at the root of the issue. I tried a few things, including simple re-installs, that did not work; but perhaps the advanced re-install you suggested might have worked.

From what I found:

I had migrated apps, including Dropbox, from a Time Machine backup of my old MacBook Air (running an old macOS) to my new M1 2020 MacBook, and it appears the user account I had on my new Mac when I did the app migration had the problem with Dropbox; unclear what exactly the problem was.

At the suggestion of Apple customer support, I created a new user account, and installed Dropbox in that account. Dropbox then worked fine.

So it was not some incompatibility of Dropbox with the new apple chip (M1) or new OS (Big Sur), but something in the migration of Dropbox from the old Mac that created the issue.

[Daphne]

Thanks for getting back to me here @george15.

Migrating the app from another OS version most likely caused the unexpected behaviour with the app there. I'm glad to hear that the issue is resolved for you now with a fresh install!

If you need anything else, don't hesitate to give me a shout here. 😀