Dropbox Finally Begins Testing Mac App With Native Apple Silicon Support

Dropbox has finally begun testing a native version of its Mac app with Apple silicon support, following widespread criticism from customers and users who initially thought it had no plans to take advantage of the latest Macs powered by Apple's custom processors.

General Dropbox Feature
In October, official responses to comments on the Dropbox forums suggested Dropbox had no plans to add support for Apple silicon Macs to its Mac app, continuing to rely on Apple's Rosetta 2 technology to translate the Intel-based app on newer Mac machines. The forum thread received widespread criticism from irritated Mac users, eventually leading to the company's CEO stepping in to say that Dropbox would adopt native Apple silicon support in the first half of 2022.

Now, one week into the new year, Dropbox is seemingly fulfilling its promise. Dropbox has told MacRumors that it has begun testing native Apple silicon support with a small batch of its Mac user base and that it plans to offer all users who run the beta of its Mac app native Apple silicon support by the end of January.

Compared to apps specifically optimized and tested for Apple silicon, Intel-based apps on new Mac machines occasionally run slower, make little use of Apple silicon's performance gains and power efficiency, and may not function correctly. While Apple's Rosetta 2 technology works for most users, apps for Apple silicon typically run better, are more power-efficient, and more likely to provide a better user experience than Intel-based apps on newer Mac laptops and desktops.

Dropbox does not have the best reputation amongst Mac users for being friendly to system resources and is often criticized for being a memory hog and battery drain. On newer Macs, such as the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, Dropbox with native Apple silicon support should allay some of that criticism, as it should run smoother and be less demanding.

Dropbox's poor performance on Mac has pushed some users to move to third-party clients that support Dropbox syncing. With Dropbox planning to give all of its beta users access to its native Apple silicon app by the end of the month, an official rollout can be expected shortly after and well within the first half of 2022, as previously promised by the company's CEO.

Tag: Dropbox

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected [Updated]

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3

Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
AirTag 2 Mock Feature

Apple AirTag 2: Four New Features Found in iOS 26 Code

Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products. Here's what's supposedly coming: An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds Second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found. Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island

iPhone 18 Pro Leak Adds New Evidence for Under-Display Face ID

Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker. According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
maxresdefault

iOS 26 Code Leak Reveals Apple Smart Home Hub Details

Thursday December 11, 2025 4:02 pm PST by
Apple is working on a smart home hub that will rely heavily on the more capable version of Siri that's coming next year. We've heard quite a bit about the hub over the last two years, but a recent iOS 26 code leak provides additional insight into what we can expect and confirms rumored features. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Macworld claims to have access to an ...
studio display purple

Apple Studio Display 2 Code Hints at 120Hz ProMotion, HDR, A19 Chip

Thursday December 11, 2025 4:19 am PST by
Apple's next-generation Studio Display is expected to arrive early next year, and a new report allegedly provides a couple more details on the external monitor's capabilities. According to internal Apple code seen by Macworld, the new external display will feature a variable refresh rate capable of up to 120Hz – aka ProMotion – as well as support for HDR content. The current Studio...

Top Rated Comments

mxrider88 Avatar
51 months ago
Too late. Moved all my data to iCloud.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Bandaman Avatar
51 months ago
Wow ...

Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
51 months ago
Does this company stuff exist?

It might be too late now. I have already moved all my stuff from DropBox to Google Drive. It's not going to be fun to move all the stuff back to the DropBox. :(
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PsykX Avatar
51 months ago

Does this company stuff exist?

[...] It's not going to be fun to move all the stuff back to the DropBox. :(
Dropbox has always been the most reliable cloud service since as far as I've known. Better than Apple and Microsoft, no wonder why Jobs wanted to put his hands on it. It's still true today.

Also, not going to be fun to move all the stuff back...? Did you ever copy/paste files from a folder to another? That's basically all you'd need to do...

But hey, in the end, just pick whatever floats your boat.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
elvislives Avatar
51 months ago
Left Dropbox years ago. Google Drive is way better.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
polyphenol Avatar
51 months ago
I have already voted. Maestral. Can't see me bothering to switch back to an official client unless it both offers something extra and uses no more resources.

(Admittedly, my needs are extremely modest. Largely because I moved almost everything from Dropbox when they ramped up costs so spectacularly.)
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)