Dropbox now supports M1 Macs, more than a year after the first Macs with Apple chips went on sale. The cloud service has released a new version of its sync client integrated into the macOS Finder, which for the first time is designed natively for ARM Macs: beta build 140.3.1903 is the first version that works for both Intel and Macs with Apple chip is shipped.
The service provides a universal installer intended for both processor architectures and requires an internet connection during installation. Alternatively, there is a specific offline installer that can be loaded either for M1 Macs or Intel Macs.
Angry Dropbox customers
The company has already tested the version for M1 Macs with a limited group of users, now the beta is open to all interested parties. When a final version will follow remains open for the time being. Users who have signed up for pre-releases in Dropbox settings should receive the new version automatically.
Like most other software written for Intel Macs, Dropbox has been usable on M1-based Macs since its inception, using Apple’s Rosetta 2 translation layer. However, the permanently active sync client has long been considered to be comparatively resource-hungry, and using it in Rosetta increases these problems considerably, it said. Among other things, users complained about massive memory leaks, slowing down of the operating system and losses in the battery life of their MacBooks.
Bad communication
For a long time, Dropbox had not made it clear whether and when a version of the client for ARM Macs should appear at all. With the introduction of the first professional MacBooks last fall, the complaints finally boiled over. Only Dropbox boss Drew Houston was able to smooth things over slightly by publicly apologizing for the “confusion” and promising an M1 client for the first half of 2022.
No reason for the long wait was given. Other major cloud sync services weren’t that much faster either: Microsoft only adapted OneDrive for M1 Macs (and ARM Windows) last December. Google Drive has been available in a version adapted for Apple chips since mid-October 2021.
(lbe)
