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Forum Discussion
No iPhone background photo upload
I am struggling to find up-to-date information on whether or not Dropbox will actually upload photos from the iPhone when the app is in the background. For me it does not.
Old posts imply that Drop...
Hey darh,
I'm really sorry you have been getting conflicting information. I'm an engineer who works on the iOS Camera Uploads feature and I am going to do my best to explain why this seems broken and give you a complete and correct picture of how the feature works. 🙂
Firstly, we do support background uploading of images using our Camera Uploads feature. In fact, most uploads happen in the background. Millions of images are uploaded this way every month using the Dropbox iOS app. However, it works very differently than most users expect. This is where the "the limitation is because of Apple" part comes in.
On iOS, there is no way for an application (besides Apple's applications) to stay running indefinitely in the background. We can only request time and wait for it to be granted by iOS. Usually we get it for somewhere between 30 seconds to 4 minutes at a time depending on a whole bunch of variables like whether you're actively using the device or whether it is charging. We also do not get notified directly about new images being taken with the camera. We simply have to wait until iOS gives us time in the background to check.
We no longer use location services to get background time, as we agree with you that it was not a good way of doing things and iOS has given us Background App Refresh, described above, to get background time properly. This new way of getting background time did not exist back when the original Camera Uploads feature was designed. Back then, many applications used location services to get reliable background time, even if they didn't need location information.
So you're probably seeing behavior from the app that looks like it's not uploading in the background because you launch the Dropbox app and watch it upload your latest images. However, I can tell you from what I see we are getting some background time on your device and appear to be properly uploading photos when new ones are available. This background behavior is very sporadic and much of it is likely to happen when you're not using your device. This way, it doesn't drain your battery or slow down your phone when you are using it. If you need something synced right away, the only way to be sure it happens is to launch the Dropbox app directly.
I understand this is not ideal, but it is the best we can do with the limitations of the iOS operating system. I'm sorry you have had so much trouble getting proper information on this behavior. I hope I've clarified things for you.
I'm working with our support staff to clarify how this works so that users like yourself get the correct information the first time they ask. If you have further questions, please let me know!
Jim
Software Engineer @ Dropbox
The answer, from Dropbox support, is that no, this does not work. To quote:
"I'm afraid that on an Apple device, background uploading is unfortunately not supported. Please note that this is due to a limitation from Apple's side.
I would suggest leaving the app open in the foreground for Camera Uploads to work as it should. "
Then why, dear Dropbox, do you continue to have the "Background App Refresh" option still built into the app, if you don't support it?
jboulterDropbox Staff
Hey darh,
I'm really sorry you have been getting conflicting information. I'm an engineer who works on the iOS Camera Uploads feature and I am going to do my best to explain why this seems broken and give you a complete and correct picture of how the feature works. 🙂
Firstly, we do support background uploading of images using our Camera Uploads feature. In fact, most uploads happen in the background. Millions of images are uploaded this way every month using the Dropbox iOS app. However, it works very differently than most users expect. This is where the "the limitation is because of Apple" part comes in.
On iOS, there is no way for an application (besides Apple's applications) to stay running indefinitely in the background. We can only request time and wait for it to be granted by iOS. Usually we get it for somewhere between 30 seconds to 4 minutes at a time depending on a whole bunch of variables like whether you're actively using the device or whether it is charging. We also do not get notified directly about new images being taken with the camera. We simply have to wait until iOS gives us time in the background to check.
We no longer use location services to get background time, as we agree with you that it was not a good way of doing things and iOS has given us Background App Refresh, described above, to get background time properly. This new way of getting background time did not exist back when the original Camera Uploads feature was designed. Back then, many applications used location services to get reliable background time, even if they didn't need location information.
So you're probably seeing behavior from the app that looks like it's not uploading in the background because you launch the Dropbox app and watch it upload your latest images. However, I can tell you from what I see we are getting some background time on your device and appear to be properly uploading photos when new ones are available. This background behavior is very sporadic and much of it is likely to happen when you're not using your device. This way, it doesn't drain your battery or slow down your phone when you are using it. If you need something synced right away, the only way to be sure it happens is to launch the Dropbox app directly.
I understand this is not ideal, but it is the best we can do with the limitations of the iOS operating system. I'm sorry you have had so much trouble getting proper information on this behavior. I hope I've clarified things for you.
I'm working with our support staff to clarify how this works so that users like yourself get the correct information the first time they ask. If you have further questions, please let me know!
Jim
Software Engineer @ Dropbox
Thanks, Jim. I appreciate your taking the time to explain.
IMHE (in my humble experience) if I take a bunch of pictures and don't launch the Dropbox app in the interim, those pics are not uploaded even weeks later. Maybe it has something to do with my usage patterns, so the Dropbox app never gets any background cycles to even check for new photos.
There are a lot of comments online about how Apple can do this with iCloud yet you cannot -- I surmise this is yet another scenario where Apple hasn't opened the dev APIs sufficiently, and iCloud uses Apple's own access systems they won't allow you to touch.
I'm going to try to implement a process where I do use iCloud just as a backup in case I lose my phone, then periodically launch the Dropbox app to upload, then move those pics out of Camera Uploads into a more permanent store on Dropbox, and clear out my iPhone photos. I hope this will work well.
Getting the documentation updated would have saved me a lot of cycles 🙂
- jboulter
You're exactly correct about iCloud.
Opening the Dropbox app often should help get the app prioritized higher for background time by iOS, from what I've read.
If you happen to have links to the documentation you read previously, please send it over and I'll make sure we get it updated asap! 🙂
Thank you,
Jim
