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Dropbox Apple Silicon (M1) install
Hi,
I recently purchased a MacBook Pro 13" with the M1 processor and I cannot seem to get a native install of Dropbox for this chipset. From searching the community, it seems like M1 support sh...
Hi all,
Native Apple silicon support is now fully available. All users with Apple silicon devices will receive the native version of Dropbox automatically. If you would like to update your device manually, you can do so by clicking on the latest Stable Build and downloading the Offline Installer (Apple Silicon) file. For more information, visit the Dropbox Help Center.If you need assistance with anything else, please feel free to create a new thread and our community team will be happy to assist.
I would like to express my interest in this getting done as well. And they better do it soon… or at least announce that it’s coming. Otherwise I will be hitting copy and paste right into iCloud waiting a few hours and immediately unsubscribing.
Well the dropbox app sucks big time now on my M1 and uninstalled it. It consumed +4GB of RAM and it failed to properly sync 2 files to my Mac which is under 10GB that I had to wait for more than 24 hours to complete through a 50 Mbps connection. The ETA kept changing from a few minutes up to "n" number of days LOL.
Can't wait to migrate out of Dropbox very soon and never look back.
Apple barricaded kernel extensions on M1 chips. For an app that uses kernel extensions to work natively with M1, you have to boot into recovery mode and change a security setting. Dropbox obviously doesn't want to play ball because it's not a long-term solution. A new API to access files and folders remotely was recently introduced and dropbox might be using that instead: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/fileprovider
ChrisBoxDrop wrote:Apple barricaded kernel extensions on M1 chips. For an app that uses kernel extensions to work natively with M1, you have to boot into recovery mode and change a security setting. Dropbox obviously doesn't want to play ball because it's not a long-term solution. A new API to access files and folders remotely was recently introduced and dropbox might be using that instead: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/fileprovider
Apple is indeed pushing its File Provider framework. Recent updates from Microsoft (https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-onedrive-blog/microsoft-works-to-ensure-a-great-onedrive-experience-on-apple/ba-p/2400803) showed that the future OneDrive implementation will use the File Provider framework.
I'm not sure if this is also the reason why Dropbox does not provide a native Apple Silicon version because Sync.com for example does have a native Apple Silicon app. My guess: Dropbox has dependencies and or custom frameworks that need to be ported to Apple Silicon. I also checked on my computer if Dropbox uses System Extensions, but I do not think they use them anymore, because my system does not report any System Extensions for Dropbox.
When using the File Provider framework there could be limits on functionality for third-party sync services like Dropbox. The added benefits for services like Dropbox and OneDrive will be limited to what Apple allows, which could be why it is taking so long for these companies to release a native Apple Silicon version.
I do not care too much for an Apple Silicon version of Dropbox because decided to stop using Dropbox. iCloud works fine for my personal use, and for work we have Office 365 with included cloud storage. iCloud and OneDrive are also less resource intensive, and OneDrive announced a native Apple Silicon version.
M1 was my final decision to say goodybye to Dropbox after many years of being a super fan of the service. Its not even the non native M1 factor, already for years Dropbox was becoming clunkier and heavier update after update, taking up inordinate amounts of system resources... when I made the jump to M1, decided to not even dare install it. I must say I do miss it, iCloud just... isn't as good, but I'd rather have that than a hungry process, ram and power hog.
They might want to see Backblaze' most recent update, with huge efficiencies...
