Dropbox opens up native Apple Silicon beta to all users

Following a limited test, Dropbox has opened up its beta test for the long-awaited native Apple Silicon version to all users of the software.

After not saying anything to the public for nearly a year after the first Apple Silicon deliveries to consumers, Dropbox finally committed to it in October. And starting on Thursday, the general public can get a hold of the beta version of the software.

A newly updated support document published by Dropbox late on Wednesday directs users to sign up for the program from the user's settings. Users can opt in to the testing flight by selecting "early releases" in the user profile.

Dropbox initially opened up the test to a small number of users on January 7.

AppleInsider recommends caution with beta software from any vendor. Particularly when evaluating software with access to data both locally and on the cloud, betas should be installed on secondary or non-essential devices, and steps should be taken to guarantee there are sufficient backups of important data prior to granting access.

4 Comments

OutdoorAppDeveloper 16 Years · 1292 comments

About 2 years ago

I kind of wonder why setting the compile flag to build a fat binary is worthy of a news article? The real question is this: What is it that DropBox is doing that made converting their code to ARM a non-trivial task? Or perhaps, what is it that Apple changed on ARM Macs that made the DropBox Finder integration a lot more difficult? Is it simply that DropBox does not make enough money from Mac users to make updating their code more often than once in two years simply not worth the investment? Whatever it is, there is a real story here somewhere.

crowley 16 Years · 10431 comments

OutdoorAppDeveloper said:

I kind of wonder why setting the compile flag to build a fat binary is worthy of a news article? The real question is this: What is it that DropBox is doing that made converting their code to ARM a non-trivial task? Or perhaps, what is it that Apple changed on ARM Macs that made the DropBox Finder integration a lot more difficult? Is it simply that DropBox does not make enough money from Mac users to make updating their code more often than once in two years simply not worth the investment? Whatever it is, there is a real story here somewhere.

Why would many if any people care about that story? The news is that Dropbox are delivering an Apple Silicon native app and it is now in beta.

asdasd 22 Years · 5682 comments

crowley said:

OutdoorAppDeveloper said:

I kind of wonder why setting the compile flag to build a fat binary is worthy of a news article? The real question is this: What is it that DropBox is doing that made converting their code to ARM a non-trivial task? Or perhaps, what is it that Apple changed on ARM Macs that made the DropBox Finder integration a lot more difficult? Is it simply that DropBox does not make enough money from Mac users to make updating their code more often than once in two years simply not worth the investment? Whatever it is, there is a real story here somewhere.

Why would many if any people care about that story? The news is that Dropbox are delivering an Apple Silicon native app and it is now in beta.

It matters to anybody who cares about buying good software. Also it matters to the platform, they are not writing native ( enough) code to handle this, which means they are not hiring Mac specific developers.

asdasd said:

crowley said:

OutdoorAppDeveloper said:

I kind of wonder why setting the compile flag to build a fat binary is worthy of a news article? The real question is this: What is it that DropBox is doing that made converting their code to ARM a non-trivial task? Or perhaps, what is it that Apple changed on ARM Macs that made the DropBox Finder integration a lot more difficult? Is it simply that DropBox does not make enough money from Mac users to make updating their code more often than once in two years simply not worth the investment? Whatever it is, there is a real story here somewhere.

Why would many if any people care about that story? The news is that Dropbox are delivering an Apple Silicon native app and it is now in beta.

It matters to anybody who cares about buying good software. Also it matters to the platform, they are not writing native ( enough) code to handle this, which means they are not hiring Mac specific developers.

Except that they just released the beta of an Apple Silicon version.