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Dropbox's Jan 1st 2027 terms of service

22 points simonebrunozzi 1 hour ago 26 comments

xtoilette 42 minutes ago | parent

TL;DR?

chrisandchris 31 minutes ago | parent

I did a comparison with an LLM of my choice and there was no meaningful difference (or nothing I would consider HN-worthy).

sph 24 minutes ago | parent

Given the HN-worthy differences posted by others, here’s another example of why it’s not a good idea to delegate your thinking to LLMs.

0x20Fearless 15 minutes ago | parent

I saw a comment and didn’t prompt an LLM and see the whole difference: https://www.diffchecker.com/QD8AKShC/

charcircuit 30 minutes ago | parent

- You must be 18+

- You must access Dropbox every 6 months (from 12) if you have a free to ensure they don't delete your account

webprofusion 32 minutes ago | parent

Diff or it didn't happen

nixass 29 minutes ago | parent

Well, diff it then?

GuestFAUniverse 25 minutes ago | parent

(I'm a former user of dropbox.)

Good services make change explicit.

Dropbox seems to have degraded into incompetence. Unable to provide good services.

adrithmetiqa 13 minutes ago | parent

Long time Dropbox user here. I would disagree. In my opinion they still have the best file sync platform of the big providers, easily beating onedrive and Google drive for reliability, especially with hundreds of thousands of files.

GuestFAUniverse 28 minutes ago | parent

100%

It's 2026 and they're handling IT like pariahs of the stone age.

Even they grey beards of the 70s would have worked that out easily.

dannyw 24 minutes ago | parent

Oh it's probably intentional. I've seen efforts to simplify terms of service get rejected because "more people might read it if it's shorter".

haunter 31 minutes ago | parent

Diffchecker for the save

https://www.diffchecker.com/QD8AKShC/

rlk 29 minutes ago | parent

Looks like the major changes are:

- some stuff about Teams that's mostly only relevant if you're using your work email for a personal account

- minimium age 13 -> 18; add "Dropbox may use and rely on information from third parties, including age signals from app stores, for the purpose of enforcing this restriction."

- free accounts may be terminated after 6 months of no use (previously 12 months)

- removed "If you reside in the EU, the European Commission provides for an online dispute resolution platform, which you can access here: https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr." from the dispute resolution process.

big85 23 minutes ago | parent

Major changes:

1. You must be 18 to use Dropbox. Previously, you had to be 13 if in the United States, or 16 if higher. Dropbox may use information "Dropbox may use and rely on information from third parties, including age signals from app stores, for the purpose of enforcing this restriction."

2. Your account may be terminated if you don't have a Paid account and haven't accessed for 6 months. Previously, it was 12 months.

3. If you have multiple accounts tied to the same email address, and one is banned, the others may also be banned.

4. "Refunds are only issued if required by law." -> "Refunds are only issued in limited circumstances or if required by law."

5. You automatically agree to the new terms if you continue to have an account. Previously, it was only if you continued to use the service.

6. Some terms covering Teams accounts.

applfanboysbgon 15 minutes ago | parent

> 5. You automatically agree to the new terms if you continue to have an account.

I would really love to see courts throw this BS out.

rpozarickij 5 minutes ago | parent

> Your account may be terminated if you don't have a Paid account and haven't accessed for 6 months

I hope file sync is treated as "access", otherwise this would make me anxious.

drgo 22 minutes ago | parent

I switched to Sync last year. Much cheaper, better quality.

egeozcan 7 minutes ago | parent

I didn't know about Sync. TIL someone had the guts to start a company named "Sync" in 2011.

xprnio 1 minute ago | parent

Let that sync in

hjkl0 8 minutes ago | parent

What’s a good Dropbox alternative? Especially for Macs. Feels like they spent twenty years just making the Mac client worse.

simongray 6 minutes ago | parent

Self-hosted Seafile + Tailscale works great for me.

swiftcoder 1 minute ago | parent

I guess teenagers don't have any need to sync files, eh? Hate to see this gradual erosion of internet access for young people - I'd bet half the notable members of this very site started their career trajectory by learning how to break/fix computers in middle school or before