Dropbox Drops New API for Mobile and Web, Adds Fine-Grained Access for Apps

Dropbox has made mobile developers, developers in general in fact a lot happier with the release of a brand new API. The new API is the first major update since it launched and there are plenty of highly requested things in there.

"We’re really excited to announce the launch of the Dropbox API for mobile and web apps!," Brian Smith announced on the Dropbox blog.

"Even if you have no clue what the Dropbox API does, chances are you’ve already used it — it’s the engine that powers our iPhone and Android apps and thousands of third-party Dropbox-enabled apps," the announcement said.

"This is our first major update since releasing the API, and we’re stoked to share the improvements we’ve made," it added.

One thing that should be good news for anyone worried about their account security is the fact that apps no longer require or have access to your credentials, rather, they need to be authorized via the Dropbox native app or on the web, before they work.

Another change is the ability to allow third-party apps to only access one folder in Dropbox, as opposed to all of your data. This restriction works great for apps that use Dropbox to store data related to apps alone, but don't really need access to anything else.

There are new API methods as well, developers can build search functionality into their apps and also add sharing features. They also have full control over things like file revisions.

Finally, Dropbox is showing more developers some love as the API now supports calls and includes a SDK for Python, Ruby and Java.

Since the Dropbox API is what powers the official native mobile Dropbox apps, those should be getting some improvements as well soon. But the new API aims to do more for web apps as well, so there should be more and more powerful services tapping into Dropbox soon.