What you need to know
- WhatsApp has been spotted testing a new file size limit of 2GB for sharing.
- The beta test is taking place at least in Argentina for users on both the Android and iOS versions of the app.
- WhatsApp's file size limit currently tops out at 100MB.
Many of the best messaging apps for Android currently don't offer the option to send large files, except for Telegram, which allows files up to 2GB in size. On the other hand, Signal and WhatsApp limit the file size for sharing to 100MB, but things may change for the latter in the near future.
According to WABetaInfo, the Meta-owned messaging service is testing a bigger file size limit, which allows a small set of users to send files of up to 2GB in size. The experiment is apparently available to a few beta users in Argentina.
It's unclear when and if the new limit will make its way to other regions. Assuming it does, the feature, along with emoji reactions, will give WhatsApp a significant boost to take its fight to Telegram on that front.
The experimental feature works with WhatsApp's beta versions 2.22.8.5, 2.22.8.6, and 2.22.8.7 on Android, per WABetaInfo. It's also compatible with the app's beta version on iOS (v22.7.0.76).
Bigger file size limits can prove useful especially at a time when photos and videos are increasingly taking up more storage space than before, thanks to the proliferation of smartphone cameras with large megapixel counts.
That said, only time will tell whether the bigger file size limit will become available globally. For the time being, the rest of us will have to resort to Telegram if we want to share files that exceed WhatsApp's current limit.
