WhatsApp Now Lets You Send Photos and Video in Original Quality

WhatsApp is rolling out a new option that lets users on iPhone share photos and video over the messaging platform in their original quality.

Whatsapp Feature
As spotted by WABetaInfo, the official changelog included with WhatsApp's 23.24.73 update on the App Store says that users can now "easily send original quality media as a file."

The update follows a recent feature addition that lets WhatsApp users send media in high resolution or "HD quality." While that was an improvement that addressed the service's low quality media sharing limitation, it still involves compression.

whatsapp share media files
WhatsApp's latest feature avoids compression altogether by allowing photos and video to be shared as files, thereby preserving their original quality. WhatsApp's changelog adds that the new option is rolling out "over the coming weeks," so some users may not immediately see it on their device.

  1. Open an existing chat in WhatsApp or start a new one.
  2. Tap the + icon, left of the text input field.
  3. Tap Document ➝ Choose Photo or Video.
  4. Choose the media that you want to send, then confirm by tapping the blue arrow. Note the 2GB limit on the files that can be sent using the feature.

whatsapp

When the files are sent, previews of the media are not shown in the chat window, but the recipient can tap the files to view them. WhatsApp has also been testing the same feature for Android, although there isn't any further information about when it will become available.

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 2 Redux

Top 5 Apple Products to Look Forward to in 2025

Friday December 20, 2024 2:22 pm PST by
It's looking like 2025 is going to be an important year for Apple, with the company planning to revamp the iPhone, push further into smart home products, and improve Apple Intelligence. There are tons of new products rumored for 2025, including new iPhones, M4 Macs, a smart home command center, and much more. We've highlighted the top five Apple products that will have the biggest impact in...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...

Top Rated Comments

Kylo83 Avatar
14 months ago
Yeah it’s been there for ages doing that it’s not new, not sure why they now put it in the release notes
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Populus Avatar
14 months ago
I wonder when we’ll be finally able to use usernames instead of our phone number… I don’t like to share my number with anyone I want to text with.

I know the feature is planned, but it seems it’s taking longer than expected.

I’d gladly use Telegram but here in my country few people use it.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
one more Avatar
14 months ago
This could already be done for a while, by choosing to send a Document > File and then attaching an original uncompressed photo or video.

How is this different?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
infinitedreams Avatar
14 months ago

Yeah it’s been there for ages doing that it’s not new, not sure why they now put it in the release notes
They've been too busy fixing a slowdown bug in the last 5 updates.



Attachment Image
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Seanm87 Avatar
14 months ago
Why don't they, I don't know, just share the original image like how it is on iMessage?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TechRemarker Avatar
14 months ago

Kind of a weird implementation. It's not obvious to choose "Documents" on an intuitive level. It should just be an option upon selecting photos/video.

Also, I really hope that someday they move the "typing" indicator to a more natural spot like other messenger apps. Meaning, at the bottom of the chat. The eye is already naturally down there.
Agreed. Though when sharing the normal photo method it strips all meta data using the document method includes meta data so they probably don’t want that the default. Would love it to work the normal way but just an option per contact on whether to include the meta data.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)