Dropbox's new terms take effect January 1, 2027
Dropbox's Jan 1st 2027 terms of service
Dropbox has posted its 2026 Terms of Service, effective January 1, 2027. The updated agreement covers account registration, user content permissions, acceptable use, software licenses, beta services, electronic signatures, templates, fax services, and paid subscriptions. It clarifies that users must be at least 18, that Dropbox may scan and store your files to provide features like OCR and previews, and that templates are not legal advice. The terms also detail billing, cancellation, refunds, and fee-change notice requirements.
To provide these and other features, Dropbox accesses, stores, and scans Your Stuff.
- big85
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.
- haunter
Diffchecker for the save
- swiftcoder
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
- rlk
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.
- lukeify
Amazing Dropbox went from a brilliantly simple service to this stagnating corporate swamp of ooze. Yet another fascinating example of how headcount correlates with quality decline.
- kristianc
Dropbox will be one of the next Bending Spoons acquisitions. Low growth, none of the upsell or product extension things they've done have really worked out, and no-one's idea of what the future looks like.
- kmfrk
Trying to download all my 5GB of files from the web client gives me an "Attempted to zip too many files."
I guess the only way to get or export your data is through the desktop client?
- fg137
My Dropbox account was deleted after years of inactivity. While it was definitely on me, and their terms clearly stated that "We reserve the right to" delete the account, I was surprised that no notification was sent. Yes, I checked my emails, nothing.
Needles to say, I never used Dropbox since then.