Dropbox automatically uploads photos and videos you shoot with your phone

Jun 22, 2012 14:41 GMT  ·  By

Finally, iPhone and iPad users can enjoy the automatic photo uploads feature in Dropbox that desktop and Android users have had for a few months now. The feature is simple enough in essence, though things aren't as trivial underneath the surface.

Enabling the feature will allow the Dropbox iOS app to automatically upload any new photo you shoot with your phone (or tablet if you're into that sort of thing) to the cloud. You can restrict this to WiFi-only or use your data connection as well, if it can handle it.

"When you open the app, photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad are saved to Dropbox at their original size and quality in a private Camera Uploads folder. It’s easy to flip through all your automatically uploaded photos and videos in the Photos section of the Dropbox website," Dropbox explained.

You can upload all existing photos or simply leave the feature enabled for any future photos you may take. The simple idea behind it is to get your photos to your computer, or to the web, as fast as possible and with as little hassle as possible.

"With this release, your iPhone, Android, and digital cameras can finally all work together. It’s easy to bring your photos and videos together in one place. And once your photos are in Dropbox, it’s super easy to share them with your friends and family using a shared folder or a link," it said.

One of the cool things about the new feature is that you'll also get 500 MB for free for your photo automatically uploaded and up to 3 GB for any subsequent photos.

With this update, Dropbox can now handle your photos on your desktop, on your Android phone or iPad tablet. The fact that everything happens automatically, as soon as you plug in your camera or SD card, or as soon you connect to the internet on your phone, makes it a lot less likely that you'll lose photos if something happens to your computer or your phone.