Dropbox Finally Begins Testing Mac App With Native Apple Silicon Support

[MacRumors]

Dropbox has finally begun testing a native version of its Mac app with Apple silicon support, following widespread criticism from customers and users who initially thought it had no plans to take advantage of the latest Macs powered by Apple's custom processors.

In October, official responses to comments on the Dropbox forums suggested Dropbox had no plans to add support for Apple silicon Macs to its Mac app, continuing to rely on Apple's Rosetta 2 technology to translate the Intel-based app on newer Mac machines. The forum thread received widespread criticism from irritated Mac users, eventually leading to the company's CEO stepping in to say that Dropbox would adopt native Apple silicon support in the first half of 2022.

Now, one week into the new year, Dropbox is seemingly fulfilling its promise. Dropbox has told MacRumors that it has begun testing native Apple silicon support with a small batch of its Mac user base and that it plans to offer all users who run the beta of its Mac app native Apple silicon support by the end of January.

Compared to apps specifically optimized and tested for Apple silicon, Intel-based apps on new Mac machines occasionally run slower, make little use of Apple silicon's performance gains and power efficiency, and may not function correctly. While Apple's Rosetta 2 technology works for most users, apps for Apple silicon typically run better, are more power-efficient, and more likely to provide a better user experience than Intel-based apps on newer Mac laptops and desktops.

Dropbox does not have the best reputation amongst Mac users for being friendly to system resources and is often criticized for being a memory hog and battery drain. On newer Macs, such as the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, Dropbox with native Apple silicon support should allay some of that criticism, as it should run smoother and be less demanding.

Dropbox's poor performance on Mac has pushed some users to move to third-party clients that support Dropbox syncing. With Dropbox planning to give all of its beta users access to its native Apple silicon app by the end of the month, an official rollout can be expected shortly after and well within the first half of 2022, as previously promised by the company's CEO.

Article Link: Dropbox Finally Begins Testing Mac App With Native Apple Silicon Support

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Does this company stuff exist?

It might be too late now. I have already moved all my stuff from DropBox to Google Drive. It's not going to be fun to move all the stuff back to the DropBox.

 

[polyphenol]

I have already voted. Maestral. Can't see me bothering to switch back to an official client unless it both offers something extra and uses no more resources.

(Admittedly, my needs are extremely modest. Largely because I moved almost everything from Dropbox when they ramped up costs so spectacularly.)

 

[Bandaman]

Wow ...

 

[elvislives]

Left Dropbox years ago. Google Drive is way better.

 

[mxrider88]

Too late. Moved all my data to iCloud.

 

[koil]

I have already voted. Maestral. Can't see me bothering to switch back to an official client unless it both offers something extra and uses no more resources.

(Admittedly, my needs are extremely modest. Largely because I moved almost everything from Dropbox when they ramped up costs so spectacularly.)

Same, I'm actually very happy that they dragged their feet on this since it led me to discovering Maestral. Lighter than the official client, and open source, what's more to love?

 

[aevan]

OneDrive, which I’m waiting for, is still testing the Apple Silicon version a year since M1 launch. Dropbox is just starting testing.

Seriously, they are taking their time.

 

[coolfactor]

I'm still a paid Dropbox user (14 years now!), but I'm disappointed by the direction that the developers have taken. The app no longer has a native look-and-feel on Mac. Let's hope this new focus on M1 will also bring some attention to adhering more closely to Mac interface guidelines. That's not optional.

 

[ItchyRat2160]

It's a little too late for that, I already deleted my account and moved to Google Drive.

 

[svish]

Finally happening. Will still take some more time for it be released

 

[paulandfrodo]

Still able to use the free version for my important files ( docs/spreadsheets ect ). Photo's kept elsewhere. Syncs well with my phone, on my M1 mac does what it needs to do and... as I say, it's free as less than 5Gig.... Keep in mind, I was doing assembler code on things with 8k !! So, 5G is like the ocean.

 

[dannys1]

Moved to iCloud drive and to be honest haven't missed Dropbox really. The only two features I wish iCloud Drive had is better selective sync and LAN sync.

 

[blairh]

I just use their web app. Always have.

 

[danieldk]

I have already voted. Maestral. Can't see me bothering to switch back to an official client unless it both offers something extra and uses no more resources.

Same. We use Dropbox Family and I switched to Maestral because Dropbox' client consumed > 1GiB RAM, frequently more. I will probably not switch back even if they have a native M1 binary. Well, unless they stop shipping a browser in the client, stop aggressive upselling, and remove many features that are largely orthogonal to file sync.

It's a shame, because the original Dropbox client was pretty good.

 

[funwithstuff]

OneDrive, which I’m waiting for, is still testing the Apple Silicon version a year since M1 launch. Dropbox is just starting testing.

Seriously, they are taking their time.

It's still in beta (an "Insider" build) but OneDrive is available now for Apple silicon. You can move to it from the bottom of the About box in Preferences.

 

[akerr]

I’ve been happy with iCloud Drive for all my family’s stuff for years now. I still collaborate with some Dropbox users and Panic’s Transmit is perfect for that: no process running when I’m not working on those files, no local storage used and it doesn’t count toward my linked devices (still have the mobile apps installed).

 

[polyphenol]

It's still in beta (an "Insider" build) but OneDrive is available now for Apple silicon. You can move to it from the bottom of the About box in Preferences.

View attachment 1940166

I don't want it enough to run beta code - even if it is close to release candidate status.

 

[doolar]

Too late. I already left after a decade with Dropbox. It’s iCloud for me nowadays!

 

[ChrisMoBro]

Left Dropbox years ago. Google Drive is way better.

I tried Google box but the whole permissions thing is BS. A freelancer accidentally deleted a whole project as it doesn’t make it easy to transfer 1000s of files or keep them

 

[ian87w]

Better late than never, I guess.
Seriously, even Adobe had native apps now, and Adobe is notoriously slow.

 

[macmyworld]

Too late. Left them and switched to iCloud. Had been a paying customer for quite some time.

 

[BornAgainMac]

I switched to iCloud 2 months ago when I saw they were not going to make it native. Realized I don't need Dropbox too. Too late.

 

[azentropy]

A bit off topic, but was disappointed to see TurboTax 2021 still isn’t native.

 

[PsykX]

Does this company stuff exist?

[...] It's not going to be fun to move all the stuff back to the DropBox.

Dropbox has always been the most reliable cloud service since as far as I've known. Better than Apple and Microsoft, no wonder why Jobs wanted to put his hands on it. It's still true today.

Also, not going to be fun to move all the stuff back...? Did you ever copy/paste files from a folder to another? That's basically all you'd need to do...

But hey, in the end, just pick whatever floats your boat.