Answers

Dropbox now has a limit of 3 devices... What can I do?

ReunionTouch, our mobile app, was introduced in April of 2015 (concurrent with the release of Reunion 11).

We developed the synchronization between ReunionTouch and Reunion 11 using Dropbox technology.

At the time, we concluded that Dropbox provided the most reliable, most technically superior, most friendly, and most OS-compatible file-sharing service available. Today, our evaluation has not changed.

Until recently, unless you had very huge family files, Dropbox was free and there was no device limitation; meaning you could share your family file with multiple Macs, iPhones, iPads, etc., using just one Dropbox account.

Unfortunately, that changed in March of 2019 when Dropbox began to restrict their free account to a maximum of 3 devices.

So if you use a Mac, iPad, and iPhone, you're fine.

But if you use multiple Macs and multiple devices (more than 3 total), now Dropbox wants you to pay for the service.

The next step up from the Dropbox "Free" plan, is the "Plus" plan, which has no limit to the number of devices; however, the Dropbox "Plus" plan costs $99 per year. The "Plus" plan does have several nice features, including vastly increased storage capacity (2 TB).

Today, it's easy to point out that some competitors to Dropbox don't restrict the number of devices (such as Microsoft OneDrive, Box, Google Drive, or iCloud). But, realistically, it may not be long until these competing file-sharing services have similar up-charges and/or device limits.

It's also important to understand that building the file-sharing and synchronizing capability into Reunion and ReunionTouch is NOT akin to "flipping a switch" or changing a few lines of code. There is substantial technical development and effort involved in making this work (i.e. implementing Dropbox, or any file-sharing technology, to synchronize between desktop and device apps).

In case there's any doubt, it's also important to know that we don't make one penny from Dropbox by using their technology in our apps. There is no kick-back or incentive from Dropbox.

Our only incentive (then and now) is to use a sharing/synchronizing technology that WORKS, that is stable, that is reliable. YOUR family file data is at stake.

Prior to the release of Reunion 11, Dropbox was the clear leader in these critical categories. Based on our experience and assessment, Dropbox is still the best choice — even though Dropbox will cost money now, when using more than 3 devices.

If you need to use more than 3 devices, we certainly understand the frustration with an unexpected up-charge for the Dropbox Plus plan. Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do to change this. While we never say "never" — meaning our development team is always considering and evaluating other means to achieve stable synchronization — for the near term, we won't be offering an alternative to using Dropbox.

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