Disappointing news for people who are using Mailbox and/or Carousel. Dropbox has announced that they will be shutting down both products.
Dropbox posted that they acquired Mailbox in 2013 because they believed in the way the product was making mobile email better. Dropbox launched Carousel as a new way to experience and share photos. The overall goal seems to be to extend the simplicity of Dropbox to other parts of user’s lives. It is that focus in simplification that has led to the decision to shut down Mailbox and Carousel.
The Mailbox Blog states that when Mailbox joined the Dropbox team, it was intended to be the means to an end to solving the email problem. Dropbox has since realized “there’s only so much an email app can do to fundamentally fix email”. They now believe that the best way to improve people’s productivity is “to streamline the workflows that generate so much email in the first place.” Details about how Dropbox will be winding down Mailbox can be found on a Mailbox FAQ.
The Carousel blog notes that “over the past year and a half, we’ve learned that the vast majority of our users prefer the convenience and simplicity of interacting with their photos directly inside of Dropbox”. It assures users that all of the photos that they have stored in their Carousel timeline will remain safe in their Dropbox where they always have been. They suggest you visit the Carousel Help Center for instruction about how to save photos you received through shared conversations or shared albums.
Mailbox will be shut down on February 26, 2016. Carousel will be shutdown on March 31, 2016. Dropbox will continue to communicate details directly with users of both apps in the coming days.