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Dropbox Launches Password Manager, File Vault, and More Across iPhone and Mac
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I won‘t be subscribing to anything Dropbox. I have my free account with 2FA turned on. Hopefully, this new competition will keep Bitwarden, 1Password, Enpass, and LastPass on their proverbial software managing toes and spurn some new features as well.
Do we really need another [name literally any consumer product for which numerous competing options exist]?
I absolutely loved Dropbox when it was just "a folder that syncs", but it just got so bloated I finally went all-in on iCloud Drive. Dropbox still wins for granularity of sync options, though, with selective sync. I also very much like how transparent Dropbox is about sync progress, bandwidth, etc. It's a shame Apple didn't buy them back in the day, honestly.
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It's not quite as simple as Dropbox but it absolutely works:
In Files, long-press the file you want to share > Share > Add People > under Share Options, pick "anyone with the link" and "view only". You'll see various options to send the link, including "copy link". Basically the same instructions on a Mac, right-clicking any iCloud Drive file in the Finder.
The other way to share a big file that people overlook is Mail Drop, which is built into Mail. Even with a huge file (5 GB max) you can just attach the file to an email and Mail will convert it into a download link which expires after 30 days and doesn't count against your iCloud storage. Apparently you can have up to 1TB of files in transit at a time this way. I've used it a bunch and it's great. The download link works on whatever platform.
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Call it whatever you want, but you're relying on an additional piece of software from a third party. Dropbox is still handling the syncing. Cryptomator is handling the encryption. In Sync's case, the same software does both. Theoretically this should offer some advantages as well as avoid possible unforeseen conflicts between two different apps.
When I tried Boxcryptor a few years ago (when I still had Dropbox), I found the process clunky. It wasn't as simple as put a file in a folder and it syncs to all of your devices automatically. It was also harder to share files from the Boxcryptor "vaults" in your Dropbox. iOS support was lousy at the time too.
That said, I appreciate your perspective and can't disagree with anything you wrote. I looked at Cryptomator's site and it seems similar to Boxcryptor in the sense that you create encrypted "vaults" or folders inside your existing cloud storage folder. Whether it suffers from some of the same shortcomings I experienced with Boxcryptor, I can't say.
Sync works like Dropbox. It's easy. You're right, I have to trust them, but that's the case with any commercial service or product one chooses to use. It's great that Cryptomator is open-source, but in reality that doesn't matter to 99.9% of users. They're not qualified to test the integrity of the code to verify anything. I noticed that there have been third party audits of Cryptomator's encryption, but accepting those requires trust too. Do you trust Sync? Do you trust the third party who audited Cryptomator? Anyway, it's good to have options!
I am debating giving up dropbox mainly for the god awful browser interface. Like trying to organize everything on there seems torturous. I only have a 256 GB SSD for my MBP so I store a tonne on there but have moved my photos to iCloud and am debating making full jump. How do people like do any major organization of their like remote/'cloud only' files for DropBox? Surely it can't be the horrible browser experience? I must be missing something because even previewing a file is arduous on Dropbox through the browser. I loved Dropbox for many years so I don't necessarily want to leave them (especially if ARM future for Macs doesn't fit with my dev work and I have to switch to Windows primarily - don't think this will happen but just in case) but iCloud sure seems a bit more convenient overall. May have to look into one of the other options people are talking about since iCloud isn't perfect either.
I still get spam sent daily to the mail address I used for Dropbox before they got hacked. Giving them my passwords? Yeah, when pigs fly!
I don't like that fact that Dropbox employees have access to my data, no matter how well controlled the process. Same with iCloud Drive.
Sync.com offers the same selective sync features as Dropbox. You can select which folders sync to each device. Their client software is very similar to Dropbox with the same level of transparency when it comes to what has synced, when, etc.
Lack of transparency is one of the most frustrating things about iCloud in general. I've had so many iCloud sync issues (with Drive, Music, and Photos) over the years and the lack of transparency was always infuriating. Basically, in the Apple world, if you have a problem with syncing something, you just have to delete everything and start over...and hope that iCloud hasn't left some little gremlins behind.
I agree that it's a shame Apple didn't buy Dropbox, not for the service but for the engineering team. Say what you will about Dropbox as a product, their pricing, etc, but the service itself is very very reliable.
I do wish iCloud did what Dropbox does - create a root "Apps" folder for apps that utilize iCloud. That way, instead of cluttering the root directory with tons of folders, you'd only have the one App folder plus whatever folders you choose to create.
That said, I agree Dropbox is the best for what its core feature is, but I too am tired of the added features. Too intrusive if you choose not to use them.
It's not that yet another password manager is needed, per se, but many users are dissatisfied with 1Password's pricing. Other users are dissatisfied with the features offered by other passwords managers. That includes the password managers that are built into modern web browsers; they tend to be bare-bones.
I have friends who are already paying for Dropbox's pro features, and they're welcoming this news. It solves a problem for them. Now they don't have to pay for 1Password. This isn't enough to make me sign up for the paid tier of Dropbox, but some might.
Regardless, competition is good. If this new entry (or others) has the ultimate effect of lowering the price of the password manager you're presently using, wouldn't you like that? I suspect so.
Can you reveal how much are we looking at? Also, you see, if they had done this years ago it would have been sooo nice. But they waited and waited, now MS365 is $80 for a family of 6, and every one gets 1TB plus the entire Office Suite365. It would have to be really cheap for me to buy in now. I have no idea what they were thinking, to me they thought too highly of themselves.
I remember when Dropbox added Condoleeza Rice to their board. That's like advertising you have an NSA backdoor.
In the vein of Sync.com is another alternative service, SpiderOak One. They no longer have a free level of service but it starts at $69 yearly for 150GB. There is also CryptoHippie, which bundles VPN, email and cloud storage, though they don't advertise how much storage.
iCloud Keychain is a password manager. It's just the basic one you get free with your iCloud account. It's not a bad one, but third-party ones like 1Password have a lot more options.
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Truth!
I tried SpiderOak One for a few months before I found Sync. Unfortunately I encountered a number of syncing issues. I also didn't care for the client software. Sync has done a very good job of replicating Dropbox's ease of use. I haven't looked at SpiderOak One in a while, but I don't recall it having a Family/Teams option or collaboration features.
Like and use Dropbox. 1Password is iffy for me, doesn’t work that well on some sites. May look at this.
I hope they revisit their strategy. My company has moved from Dropbox to onedrive with sharepoint and everything and saving a LOT.
I was using dropbox in the past but since moved to onedrive as well since this is free with office 365. my wife and our daughter also have their 1TB. plenty for us
