Dropbox iOS app update adds automatic video, photo uploads

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Cloud storage company Dropbox released an updated version of its iOS app on Thursday, bringing revised video and photo uploading features as well as a new Gallery view.

Dropbox version 1.5 offers iOS users the option to automatically upload photos and videos taken by an iPhone or iPad to the cloud, a feature that was previously only available to Android device owners.

Users can select whether to allow auto uploads over either Wi-Fi and cellular as well as whether to download an iPhone's entire library or just new media. Connected to the new feature is the chance to add bonus storage to an account. The company will match every megabyte of data uploaded through the new feature to be awarded in 500MB blocks up to 3GB. The plan is identical to other Dropbox rewards given out for beta testing on other platforms.

Dropbox Auto UploadScreenshot of the Dropbox app's upload process.


In addition to the auto upload feature the app now comes with a so-called "Gallery" section that collects uploaded image files in a central location for easy viewing. Users can also tag favorite pictures, download photos to the iOS Camera Roll and send out a public link to the file that can be viewed in any web browser. Pictures downloaded from Dropbox servers are formatted into JPEG files, however, and the Gallery similarly reformats viewed photos presumably to account for bandwidth concerns.

Dropbox GalleryThe Gallery view offers new file handling options.


Rounding out the changes are options for bulk file relocation and deletion and the ability to upload a file of any size.

Dropbox version 1.5 is a free download that can be found in the iOS App Store.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 24
    djkikromedjkikrome Posts: 189member


    This sounds like the replacement I need for my dot mac gallery that I will sorely miss.  I'm disgusted that Apple is taking this away.  It was one of my favorite features of the dot mac experience.

  • Reply 2 of 24
    hallcr3hallcr3 Posts: 7member


    I have trouble picking a cloud service and sticking with it. 


     


    Dropbox is great and is developing good iOS apps to make storing files/photos simple.


     


    Google Drive works well and is super-convenient because I already use Gmail religiously. 

  • Reply 3 of 24
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member


    They are able to do it over cellular, which is good. I hope Apple enable iCloud cellular photo stream upload as well as some type of video stream (for video). I don't mind the video stream to be WiFI only.


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by djkikrome View Post


    This sounds like the replacement I need for my dot mac gallery that I will sorely miss.  I'm disgusted that Apple is taking this away.  It was one of my favorite features of the dot mac experience.



     


    They are giving you something similar called Photo Stream Sharing.

  • Reply 4 of 24
    cameronjcameronj Posts: 2,357member


    Biggest part of this app update is removing the file size limit on uploads.  This means I can use it to get that 1GB movie off my client's iPhone automatically without her having to understand how it works.  HUGE.

  • Reply 5 of 24
    christophbchristophb Posts: 1,482member
    nasserae wrote: »
    They are able to do it over cellular, which is good. I hope Apple enable iCloud cellular photo stream upload as well as some type of video stream (for video). I don't mind the video stream to be WiFI only.


    They are giving you something similar called Photo Stream Sharing.

    How is it similar?
  • Reply 6 of 24
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ChristophB View Post





    How is it similar?


     


    From Apple iOS 6 features site:


     


     


    Quote:


    Now you can share just the photos you want, with just the people you choose. Simply select photos from the Photos app, tap the Share button, choose who you want to share your photos with, and they’re on their way. Friends using iCloud on an iOS 6 device or a Mac running Mountain Lion get the photos delivered immediately in the Photos app or iPhoto.3 You can even view shared photo streams on Apple TV. If the folks you're sharing with aren’t using an Apple device, they can view your photos on the web. People can like individual photos and make comments. And you can share as much as you want: Your shared photo streams don’t count against your iCloud storage, and they work over Wi-Fi and cellular networks.



     

  • Reply 7 of 24
    christophbchristophb Posts: 1,482member
    nasserae wrote: »

    Oops, I misread, "giving". Was thinking current version of Photostream.
  • Reply 8 of 24
    kellya74ukellya74u Posts: 171member


    deleted

  • Reply 9 of 24
    cameronjcameronj Posts: 2,357member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by kellya74u View Post


    I would think the cell phone carriers would be upset that you will stress & overload their system by uploading photos & video via your cell account. Oh wait ,you'll burn up your account minutes & be rolled over into paying for additional gigs….never mind. Can't wait to see the faces when they get their bills…"ok, who uploaded a gig movie to the cloud on my phone w/o using wifi?" At least it will take less time with LTE on the iPad…probably upload 2-3gigs in the same time…photo sharing anyone?"



    Default option is to not allow uploading over 3G, so nobody who does this will be able to say they didn't know what they were doing.


     


    Pay for use is the only fair way for a scare resource to be managed.  Stop whining.

  • Reply 10 of 24
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member


    This update looks nice! I already got two out of the three free gigs and I'll be done with the remainder soon enough. I also like that the file size limitation is now history.


     


    I hope that more iOS developers incorporate sending to dropbox directly from within their app. That's the easiest way for me to move a file made on the iPad over to other machines.

  • Reply 11 of 24
    djkikromedjkikrome Posts: 189member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by NasserAE View Post


    They are able to do it over cellular, which is good. I hope Apple enable iCloud cellular photo stream upload as well as some type of video stream (for video). I don't mind the video stream to be WiFI only.


     


     


    They are giving you something similar called Photo Stream Sharing.



    It's not as nice or easy I don't think.  I don't have to pick who to share with each time.  The RSS feed of the gallery tells everyone already that knows about it when there is an update and I can easily just tell someone about the updates and say "go to my gallery".  Now I have to pick each person for each share each time.  It's too many steps to something that was pretty simple and easy to begin with.  Even other relatives could use a group and upload their own pictures and videos and manage their own part of my gallery which was for family only anyway.  Now it's a pain in the ass sounding to me and I see photo sharing in this new solution but nothing about video sharing and I have videos from video camera that I upload direct from Quicktime which won't be possible anymore.

  • Reply 12 of 24
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by djkikrome View Post


    It's not as nice or easy I don't think.  I don't have to pick who to share with each time.  The RSS feed of the gallery tells everyone already that knows about it when there is an update and I can easily just tell someone about the updates and say "go to my gallery".  Now I have to pick each person for each share each time.  It's too many steps to something that was pretty simple and easy to begin with.  Even other relatives could use a group and upload their own pictures and videos and manage their own part of my gallery which was for family only anyway.  Now it's a pain in the ass sounding to me and I see photo sharing in this new solution but nothing about video sharing and I have videos from video camera that I upload direct from Quicktime which won't be possible anymore.



     


    You don't have to invite people to the Photo Stream Sharing. You have the option to publish a public album. The feature is not released yet but I am sure they will be adding stuff along the way. But it seems now that they have iCloud and 150 million users they need to take this seriously. I think they will.


     


    I agree with you that they need video sharing and upload.

  • Reply 13 of 24
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member


    There's nothing quite like automatically giving all your private photos to some company. That is such as awesome feature.

  • Reply 14 of 24
    jonshfjonshf Posts: 90member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ascii View Post


    There's nothing quite like automatically giving all your private photos to some company. That is such as awesome feature.



    Yeah, kind of like the old days when you sent your film rolls to a company somewhere to get your pictures processed.

  • Reply 15 of 24
    plovellplovell Posts: 824member
    Don't like this at all. I mean ... EVERY photo ??

    And the setup is sneaky. It goes right away into setup and the only options for "photos to upload" were "all" or "new". How about an option for "None" ?? It does need authorization and asks for it so they get a checkmark on that one. But the only button is "Authorize". There isn't a "Don't Authorize".

    It took me a minute to realize that the solution was the small "Cancel" button in the status bar.

    This process feels too much like coercion. Not good, folks.
  • Reply 16 of 24
    plovellplovell Posts: 824member
    jonshf wrote: »
    Yeah, kind of like the old days when you sent your film rolls to a company somewhere to get your pictures processed.

    True. But they didn't send copies of your prints to all your friends.
  • Reply 17 of 24


    I switched from DB to SugarSync. SugarSync is way more flexible and works much better for me. 


     


    If you use the link below and end up signing up you'll get a 10 GB bonus:


     


    https://www.sugarsync.com/referral?rf=c5e7ar6h4faka&utm_source=website&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=referral&shareEvent=627792

  • Reply 18 of 24
    al_bundyal_bundy Posts: 1,525member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by larryinfl View Post


    I switched from DB to SugarSync. SugarSync is way more flexible and works much better for me. 


     


    If you use the link below and end up signing up you'll get a 10 GB bonus:


     


    https://www.sugarsync.com/referral?rf=c5e7ar6h4faka&utm_source=website&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=referral&shareEvent=627792



    dropbox has an API. i have apps on my iphone that save directly to dropbox 

  • Reply 19 of 24


    SugarSync has an API as well, there are several apps that can connect to it: http://www.sugarsync.com/developer

  • Reply 20 of 24
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by djkikrome View Post


    This sounds like the replacement I need for my dot mac gallery that I will sorely miss.  I'm disgusted that Apple is taking this away.  It was one of my favorite features of the dot mac experience.



     


    Personalised, multiple, shared photo-streams in iOS-6 are Apple's answer to the MobileMe gallery.  


     


    These are almost the same thing as that, but third party.  You don't really need them if you are going to be using iOS-6 in the near future. 

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