What you need to know
- WhatsApp could soon let you share photos with your contacts in their best quality.
- Currently, the only way to share a full-resolution photo in WhatsApp is to send it as a document.
- The feature is expected to arrive in a future update.
WhatsApp is working on a new feature that will vastly improve the photo-sharing experience on its platform. According to WABetaInfo, the latest WhatsApp beta v2.21.14.6 for Android adds an option to choose the "Photo upload quality" before sending.
The feature is currently in development and cannot be enabled even if you install the latest beta update on your phone. Once it eventually rolls out, you will be able to choose from three options before sending a photo to a contact: Auto (recommended), Best quality, and Data saver. If you choose the Auto option, WhatsApp will automatically decide the best compression algorithm for the image. Data saver, on the other hand, will apply heavy compression to save data. If you want to send the photo in its highest possible quality, you'll have to choose the "Best quality" option.
There's no word on when the feature will become available, but the report suggests it will be available on the best Android phones first. Although WhatsApp doesn't allow users to share high-quality photos currently, there is a simple workaround. All you need to do is send the image as a document.
As spotted by WABetaInfo earlier this month, WhatsApp is also working on video quality settings for its mobile app. The upcoming feature will finally enable users to send high-quality videos, although it remains to be seen if WhatsApp will increase its file size limit for videos. Right now, the app only lets you send videos up to 16MB in size. For documents, however, the limit is 100MB.
Another highly anticipated feature, multi-device support, is expected to be rolled out in beta within the next few weeks. The feature will make it possible to use a single WhatsApp account on up to four devices at once.
