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Re: Videos not playing offline on iOS

Videos not playing offline on iOS

Bonnie K.4
Collaborator | Level 9
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I have a plane trip coming up so I wanted to download some videos to watch offline. I selected a video on my Dropbox account to be available Offline, and after it finished downloading I tested it by putting my phone into airplane mode and the video does not play offline. It says "No internet connection." It is in my list of Offline files, and it shows a little purple icon next to it showing that it was downloaded, so why can I not play it offline?

It's an .mkv video and plays fine when connected to wifi.

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Walter
Dropbox Staff
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Thanks for the swift response @Bonnie K.4 - much appreciated. 

You should be able to see a green downwards arrow next to your offline files now. If you don't see this at all, please send me a screenshot of what you see. 

In addition, you should be able to preview offline files natively in the Dropbox app if:
1. The file's type is currently supported by our native preview (if it isn’t, you will need to open the file with a third-party app to preview it). 
2. You haven’t made any changes to the file while offline. 

For more context, note that the media player within our mobile app uses the Dropbox servers to stream and transcode media. While offline, we default to Apple's media player, so items that are not native (not filmed or recorded on an iOS device) may not be able to play within our application. 

When you make a file available offline, the file is stored locally on the device. For non-native file types, you can open them in another application that supports those file types. Alternatively, there are other third party applications that can convert the files to natively playback on iOS devices.

I hope this information helps Bonnie. Let me know what you find!


Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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View solution in original post

5 Replies 5

Walter
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Hey there @Bonnie K.4 - how are you today?

Could you please let me know if you are running our latest version of the mobile app?

Note that the most recent versions is 110.2 - are you running this one? Also, do you happen to have any pending updates for your mobile's OS in general?

Let me know and we'll take it from there. Thanks!


Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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Bonnie K.4
Collaborator | Level 9
Go to solution

I just updated the Dropbox app to the newest version released today. It still won't play that .mkv file, it says "couldn't load file there was an error loading the file." I tried it with an .mp4 and that one did play offline. Is it the format? It plays the .mkv fine when connected.

The new app format is a bit confusing. How do I find my list of offline files now? I got to them by putting my phone into airplane mode and then a message popped up saying "view offline files." Is that the only way to see what files are offline? The earlier app version had a folder called "Offline."

Walter
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Thanks for the swift response @Bonnie K.4 - much appreciated. 

You should be able to see a green downwards arrow next to your offline files now. If you don't see this at all, please send me a screenshot of what you see. 

In addition, you should be able to preview offline files natively in the Dropbox app if:
1. The file's type is currently supported by our native preview (if it isn’t, you will need to open the file with a third-party app to preview it). 
2. You haven’t made any changes to the file while offline. 

For more context, note that the media player within our mobile app uses the Dropbox servers to stream and transcode media. While offline, we default to Apple's media player, so items that are not native (not filmed or recorded on an iOS device) may not be able to play within our application. 

When you make a file available offline, the file is stored locally on the device. For non-native file types, you can open them in another application that supports those file types. Alternatively, there are other third party applications that can convert the files to natively playback on iOS devices.

I hope this information helps Bonnie. Let me know what you find!


Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
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Bonnie K.4
Collaborator | Level 9
Go to solution

Thanks! I think it's just the format which is the problem. I converted it to an .mp4 and that played fine so I'll do that for all of them.

Walter
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Glad to hear you figured it out @Bonnie K.4 - thanks for the reply to let me know about it as well.

If there's anything else you'd like to ask, don't hesitate to let me know!

In the meantime, thanks for using Dropbox and enjoy the rest of your day Bonnie. 

 

[This thread is now closed by moderators due to inactivity. If you're experiencing a similar behavior, feel free to Ask help from the Community here.]


Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
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