No: downloading Box on an iPhone or iPad today will not unlock the old 50GB-for-life offer. Box’s 50GB promotion was a deadline-based campaign in 2014. People who received the bonus may still have it, but Box has said account or storage changes can put the promotional quota at risk. Box does still offer an iOS app with offline-file and download-resumption features; those can help with access, but they are not a way to claim the expired promotion or a guarantee against every outage.
What the “50GB for life” Box offer actually was
The headline refers to a promotion reported by the Los Angeles Times in January 2014. Users could receive 50GB by downloading Box’s redesigned iPhone or iPad app and logging in by February 15, 2014. Box said the promotional storage would not expire. The same report described 10GB as Box’s normal amount for a new user at that time.
That was a time-limited offer, not a permanent signup benefit. In an April 2025 Box Community response, Box employee Jey Bueno said the promotion was no longer available. Box said recipients could continue using the extra storage if their accounts remained unchanged, but changes involving subscription, account type, or storage could cause the promotional allowance to be forfeited. The response does not specify every change that might trigger forfeiture, so recipients should check with Box before changing an account they rely on for that quota.
Later Box promotions do not revive the old offer
Box also advertised other limited promotions: a 2022 Box Mobile campaign offered new users an extra 10GB for downloading before August 31, 2022, and a 2023 promotion advertised up to 30GB by combining base storage and bonuses. Those campaigns are historical too; neither makes the 2014 50GB offer available to new users now.
#1 Best Overall
What Box’s iPhone and iPad app can do now
Box continues to list Box Mobile for iPhone and iPad. Its current mobile features include media capture, chunked uploads, Apple Files integration, and more resilient downloads. These are useful mobile-storage functions, but they do not establish that new users receive 50GB, and the available information does not state a current free-account quota.
Prepare Box files for offline access
Box’s iOS help says users can mark files for offline access. A download interrupted by a lost connection can resume after the network returns or after the app is reopened. For a trip or a likely connectivity gap, mark the needed files for offline access while connected and allow them to finish downloading before relying on them.
Rank #2
- Ideal for Gifting
- Ideal for a bookworm
- Compact for travelling
What to do when Dropbox is down
First check Dropbox’s status page to see whether Dropbox has reported an incident. Dropbox says local files in a synced Dropbox folder may remain accessible even when syncing and dropbox.com access are affected. That is different from being able to reach files that exist only online: a local copy must already be on the device for local access to help.
Dropbox’s mobile app supports file access, uploads, previews, offline files, and sharing. As with Box, offline access is most useful when needed files have been made available on the device in advance; a service outage can still prevent online operations such as syncing or reaching the website.
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Practical outage checklist
- Check service status. Look at Dropbox’s status page to confirm whether an incident is reported.
- Use an existing local copy. If the file is already in a synced Dropbox folder on your computer, try opening that local copy. Syncing may be unavailable while an outage is in progress.
- Use files saved for offline access. On mobile, open files that were explicitly made available offline before connectivity or service failed.
- Wait for syncing to recover. Avoid treating an unsynced local edit as safely backed up; check that syncing resumes before relying on the cloud copy.
Box and Dropbox: what this comparison can—and cannot—establish
The old Box bonus is not a fair current-storage comparison. The offer was limited to people who met its 2014 deadline, and Box has said changes can jeopardize a recipient’s legacy quota. The available current product information establishes mobile and offline features for both services, but does not establish their current free storage allowances or promise uninterrupted service.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- It can be a gift option
- Comes with secure packaging
- Helpful in various ways
Rank #4
| Reader question | Box | Dropbox |
|---|---|---|
| Can a new user claim the 2014 50GB offer? | No. Box said in April 2025 that the promotion was no longer available. | Not applicable; this was a Box promotion. |
| Current free storage amount | Not stated in the available current information. The 10GB figure in the 2014 Los Angeles Times report was the normal amount described at that time, not a current quota. | Not stated in the available information. |
| Mobile/offline use | Box Mobile is listed for iPhone and iPad; Box documents offline files and downloads that can resume after reconnection or reopening the app. | Dropbox documents mobile access, uploads, previews, offline files, and sharing. |
| During an outage | Offline files and resilient downloads can help with files prepared or downloaded on the device; they do not make an online-only file available. | Dropbox recommends checking its status page; local synced Dropbox-folder files may remain accessible when syncing and website access are affected. |
| Account-change risk for legacy bonus | Box said subscription, account-type, or storage changes could forfeit a recipient’s promotional quota; it did not enumerate every triggering change. | Not applicable to the Box promotion. |
Bottom line for users deciding what to do
- New Box user: Do not expect an iOS download to grant 50GB. Treat any older Box promotion as expired unless Box explicitly confirms a current offer.
- Existing 50GB recipient: Confirm the promotional quota in the account and ask Box before changing subscription, account type, or storage arrangements.
- Dropbox outage concern: Check Dropbox’s status page and keep critical files available offline or in a local synced folder before an outage. A second cloud account is not a substitute for an already-downloaded copy if both files and the network are inaccessible.
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