Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone, App Store
Dropbox the iPhone app has dropped
If you've been waiting patiently for the Dropbox app [iTunes link] to hit the App Store, your wait is over. The app has arrived, and brings with it the simplicity that Dropbox users have come to know and love.Since Dropbox itself is a free service, it's a pleasant surprise to see a simple, easy method for creating a new Dropbox account right off the bat if you don't happen to already have one. The app just asks for a name, e-mail address and password, prompts you to accept the terms of service, and creates the account. During my testing, I did encounter a problem where I would receive a nondescript "Account creation failed (null). Please try again." message, which I'm guessing may be due to high load on their servers. Still, this is not an encouraging encounter for new users.
Once logged in, everything worked pretty smoothly. On first login, You are presented with a brief welcome document that highlights some of the features of the app. Backing out of the document will take you to your Dropbox, which quickly lists any of the files and folders you may have in there. The app features built-in document preview for several types of files, including PDFs, text documents, spreadsheets, pictures and videos. You can also tag files as a favorite by tapping the star at the bottom of the file viewer, which adds the item to the favorites panel and caches a copy locally on the device so that it's immediately available.
An unexpected feature is the ability to take pictures, video, or use existing media and upload them directly to the Dropbox. This could definitely be handy if you need to take a quick video and have it available on another machine without having to plug in your phone and wait for it to sync. Also unexpected, but incredibly welcome, is the massive amount of documentation that is available from inside the app's settings panel. In addition to giving you general details about your account, the settings panel offers a link to watch a video about how Dropbox works, take a tour of the features, or browse their complete online help library, without having to leave the app. As many apps fall short in this area, it's refreshing to see such detailed documention available, let alone right from the app.
A couple of side notes: As I mentioned above, the new user signup does not appear to work properly sometimes. I'm guessing this will be fixed in short order, though. You can log out of your Dropbox account by tapping the Unlink iPhone from Dropbox button on the settings panel, but beware that you will loose any favorites you have stored (the app does warn you of this). And finally, when you do logout of your account, the app just disappears from the screen, as if it crashed, although you are successfully logged out. In my eyes, these are minor issues (well, aside from the signup problem), and will likely be addressed with future updates, but still good to watch out for.
All in all, this is a very well done, simple app that connects you with an already great (and free) service. It's available now in the App Store for free.
Gallery: Dropbox for iPhone



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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Pyrofallout said 9:41PM on 9-29-2009
Bummer. 3.1 or later only.
Reply
jb510 said 3:51AM on 9-30-2009
Ouch! This is getting really freaking anonying. I could care less about MMS but I'd like dropbox. I'm not going to 3.1 until it can be jail broken or there is an offical Google Voice app. Until then I won't live without GV Mobile... an unlock would be nice to....
wm.dictionary said 5:07AM on 9-30-2009
Yes, it is for 3.1 (or later) only. But, it is definitely worth to switch to 3.1 if necessary only to get Dropbox working. It is really an excellent app. Congratulations to the Dropbox team!
If you would like to create a new account and get a bonus of 250 MB to the regular 2 GB please click on the following link (hurry, I have only a few bonuses left):
https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTM0ODMzMDk
Martin said 9:26AM on 9-30-2009
Actually no, it's not even CLOSE to being worth losing jailbreak for.
Dropbox itself, however, does rule, so click on this link to get an extra 250mb on your signup. https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTE4MjI2NDE5
Dave said 11:04AM on 9-30-2009
awe some app, better than iDisk
Referral Link
https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTYyNDYxNTk
Mike said 12:29PM on 9-30-2009
Has anyone noticed excessive battery drain after installing the app?
My battery was went down a lot an hour or so after installing the app and I wonder if there's any connection?
https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTY3OTE3NTk
Christian Castro said 9:44PM on 9-29-2009
I've been waiting for this for a little while, but its 3.1 only and having a 3G I'm not willing to upgrade and lose my Exchange stuff. Good thing is they have Mobile Safari optimized page, Heres hoping to an update that removes 3.1 necessity
Reply
Richard said 11:36PM on 9-29-2009
Apparently there's an API in v3.1 that they need for video uploading, so don't hold your breath for a 3.0.x version.
Richard said 11:38PM on 9-29-2009
Obligatory referral link to get 250Mb of free space when u sign up:
https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTE0Mjc0ODI5
Erick said 9:44PM on 9-29-2009
yay!
Reply
Dave said 10:16PM on 9-29-2009
Gotta love dropbox--I'll have to give this a spin. If you don't have an account with dropbox yet--I have a couple of referrals left at this link: https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTg5MDgzNzk Sign up through the link and we'll both get 250mb of extra space.
Reply
spudboy said 10:40PM on 9-29-2009
I have referrals as well:
https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTMwMDIwMzk
Reply
Jay said 10:50PM on 9-29-2009
Four referrals left here, and thanks to all those that click:
https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTYxMzgzOQ
Reply
Mark said 11:20PM on 9-29-2009
Referrals available here too.
https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTEyMDc3Mjg5
Reply
Mark said 11:47PM on 9-29-2009
And more referrals for extra 250Mb for free when you sign up here:
https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTU3ODcxMDk
ericvicenti said 12:06AM on 9-30-2009
I have been checking the app store for this every day since they said they submitted it, and am not disappointed. Evernote just got axed.
Reply
Information Central said 12:10AM on 9-30-2009
Way to not tell us what Dropbox is.
Reply
Skj8100 said 2:04AM on 9-30-2009
Yeah I agree. That was just dumb.
E M W said 12:32AM on 9-30-2009
for those who don't know what dropbox is, checkout this screencast:
https://www.getdropbox.com/screencast
here is another referral link.
https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTI4Mjk5
Reply
Chris said 12:52AM on 9-30-2009
Dropbox is seriously one of the most ingenious pieces of seamless UI I've ever seen. I've been checking nearly every day for this app for nearly a MONTH now.
Not to spam, but here is another referral link! If you are a new user, this will give you an additional 250mb of space for free. I'll get the same bonus.
Reply