The days of asking your friends or family to send photos on WhatsApp as a “file” or send them over on Signal instead seem to be behind us. Meta-owned messaging company WhatsApp is finally allowing users to send photos in HD quality on the app (both iOS and Android) and through web experience! Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to Facebook to share this update and show off the new feature.
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The much-awaited news comes a couple of months after the news first got out that WhatsApp was testing a way for users to send HD photos through WhatsApp messages. The feature has finally arrived and is now rolling out to iOS, Android, and Web Experience users starting today. Users can choose to either send HD photos or SD photos, according to their preference. However, it may take a couple of weeks for all users to be able to use this feature.
In order to send an HD photo on WhatsApp, first head over to the Play Store or App Store and update WhatsApp. Now, simply head over to a chat where you want to send an HD photo and click on the camera icon at the bottom of the screen.
Next, click a photo or choose one from your gallery. Now, click on the new ‘HD’ button on the top of the screen next to the crop button. Next, choose HD quality from the menu and then hit the arrow Send button. That’s it. You have sent an HD photo on WhatsApp.
If you don’t see this option, your device hasn’t gotten the latest update yet and you will have to wait for a few days or weeks to get access to it.
The resolution of the HD photo sent depends on the aspect ratio and image resolution of your original photo. For example, for a photo shot in 200 MP mode in the 3:4 aspect ratio, WhatsApp’s HD photo’s resolution was 3060 x 4080 pixels. However, the same photo in a 3:4 aspect ratio but taken with the binned 12.5 MP mode turned out to be 3000 x 4000 pixels.
The same photo taken in WhatsApp’s native camera app had a resolution of 2052 x 3648 pixels with HD photo mode turned on.
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So, your experience with HD photos’ resolution on WhatsApp will vary depending on the aspect ratio of the photo, the resolution of the original image, and the device you send it on (Android, iOS or web).
Now, sending HD photos has been a long sought-after feature, since many other messages apps have it integrated, however, you should note that these photos could take longer to send and will consume more data. So, keep that in mind if you’re on a slow internet connection or if you have limited data.
There may still be some compression happening on WhatsApp’s end, there’s no clarity on that at this point, but it’s still great to have the option to share photos with higher resolution. Not just this, Meta also indicated that an HD video feature on WhatsApp is in the works as well.