In creating V2 of the Dropbox API, however, Dropbox went decidedly off trend. Users are increasingly unwilling to go to multiple different applications for related functionality and missing the chance to expand the Dropbox API would mean less integration with third party applications and ultimately less Dropbox consumers.

A recent Google study revealed that one in four app users discover applications via search, however according to Statista around two to three million applications are available for download in the Android and Apple app stores, making app visibility on these app store searches critical. Connectivity between multiple applications is now more important than ever. The need to be able to integrate in a flexible way with multiple different company's applications outweighed the need to be entirely non-disruptive. Their decision revolved around what Culver describes as their secret to proper API growth, a 'symbiotic relationship' with their consumers. Their first big decision was whether or not to bend their existing API to fit their growing consumer needs as they expanded Dropbox Pro and core Dropbox functionality. In a blog post last year, Leah Culver, a former Developer Advocate at Dropbox, elaborated on Dropbox's struggle moving from V1 to V2 of their API. Their ultimate findings? Being thoughtful is what matters.

When building their API, they had to account for their rapid growth as a company while also being cognizant that any changes they made to their API over time would always be perceived at least by some consumers as a net negative.

When building a new API, one often gets stuck between blind future proofing and a pre-optimization root evil hard place.

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