Re: I have to keep waking my phone up to upload (iOS 12)

j2k · ‎03-03-2019

I have an iPhone X with iOS 12 installed. I have location services turned "on." I am trying to upload about 1,000 photos to a Dropbox folder. Other apps like Google Photos will just upload in the background. There seems to be no way to get Dropbox to do this, so I have to keep waking up my phone. Is there a workaround? Is this a bug? Frustrating, as this will take days.

Rich · ‎03-04-2019

@j2k wrote:

I'm just confused as to why background sync is not possible. ... Dropbox is generally the king of syncing, so this just seems oddly bad.

Background syncing is possible, and I use it often. You're likely experiencing an issue specific to your device, rather than an actual problem with a feature of the app.

You need to make sure that Locations Services is enabled, that Dropbox is set to Always in Location Services, that Background Refresh is enabled for Dropbox, and that you've enabled Background Uploading in the Dropbox app.

Remember that Dropbox uses a change in your location to trigger background uploading. If you're not changing locations, Dropbox is unable to "wake up" and continue uploading in the background.

View solution in original post

rubyrod · ‎03-03-2019

@j2k

This can be frustrating! I've had the same issue on a few occasions. If you plug you phone in to a reliable power outlet, connect to a decent and reliable WiFi access point with internet access and turn auto-lock off - the photos should sync overnight, as you sleep. This certainly may not the best solution, however it has been successful for me on a few occasions. Hope this helps!

j2k · ‎03-04-2019

Thanks. My phone has to abide by corp policy not to allow auto-lock to be turned off. I'm just confused as to why background sync is not possible. I know other apps allow this. Dropbox is generally the king of syncing, so this just seems oddly bad.

Rich · ‎03-04-2019

@j2k wrote:

I'm just confused as to why background sync is not possible. ... Dropbox is generally the king of syncing, so this just seems oddly bad.

Background syncing is possible, and I use it often. You're likely experiencing an issue specific to your device, rather than an actual problem with a feature of the app.

You need to make sure that Locations Services is enabled, that Dropbox is set to Always in Location Services, that Background Refresh is enabled for Dropbox, and that you've enabled Background Uploading in the Dropbox app.

Remember that Dropbox uses a change in your location to trigger background uploading. If you're not changing locations, Dropbox is unable to "wake up" and continue uploading in the background.

2lablove23 · ‎09-06-2020

There is no “location services” to turn on on my iPhone 7 Plus iOS 13.6.1 - there isn’t a “turn on background refresh” in the Dropbox app. Background refresh is turned on in my iPhone settings, but it is NOT working.