What you need to know
- The ability to send HD photos on WhatsApp rolls out of beta and becomes official.
- Users can now choose to send the photos in Standard or HD quality before sending them.
- The new ability has apparently been the most requested one amongst the users.
WhatsApp often took heat for compressing images on the messaging platform. The Meta-owned service might have had its reasons — to save storage space and faster data transfer, amongst others. But now, WhatsApp is finally getting the ability to send HD photos to others.
Mark Zuckerberg announced the new upgrade on a Meta Broadcast Channel via Instagram. He didn't specify the precise rollout of the feature for all, although it's presumably rolling out starting today. The messaging platform has been testing the feature for quite a while now; it has been earlier released in the WhatsApp beta version for both Android phones and iOS devices.
Using the feature is relatively simple; once it rolls out, WhatsApp users can select a high-quality image from their gallery (via the camera icon right next to the mic icon in the app). Above the view to add a caption to the image, the app will showcase a new HD icon, amongst other options.
Selecting the HD icon allows users to choose the photo quality they want to send in; it either could be Standard quality with lower resolution, which apparently takes less space and is faster to send, or users can elect the HD quality option. Both the sender and recipient can further see an HD mark on the image.
According to Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, many users have been asking for the ability to share HD images with their friends and family. Additionally, it seems the ability to send high-quality video is also in the works (via The Verge).
A lot of people have been asking for this one! You can now share your photos in HD. https://t.co/JxBlEc3vIJAugust 17, 2023
While it's a welcome feature on WhatsApp, other leading messaging apps, like Telegram, have already had similar HD photo-sharing capabilities for a while now.
