How to share photos at original quality in WhatsApp

WhatApp users on iPhone can finally send uncompressed photos with contacts. Here’s how to ensure you send your best snaps at the original quality on WhatsApp.

Since WhatsApp’s inception, users have been unable to share photos at their original resolution, with the app compressing the image down to a much smaller size during the sending process.

While this is a great way for users to save data both in the sending and receiving of images – the compressed photos have much smaller file sizes – while also speeding up the sharing process, many miss being able to share the snap at the best quality.

For example, if the recipient plans to further edit the photo and perhaps even print off a copy, sharing through WhatsApp is far from ideal. I’ve often asked someone to share via AirDrop or another method to preserve the original quality of an image.

Now, for iPhone users at least (Android users, it’s been in beta for a while so the feature should arrive soon), WhatsApp is rolling out the option to share at full quality. There is the slight caveat that image previews won’t automatically appear and the recipient will have to tap the file to download, but that’s a small price to pay.

While the feature won’t have reached all users, here are the steps you’ll need to follow:

What you’ll need:

• An iPhone running iOS 17
• The latest version of WhatsApp for iOS

The Short Version

• Open a WhatsApp chat on your iPhone
• Hit the “+” button in the bottom left corner
• Select Photo and Video library
• Choose the image you wish to share
• Tap the new “HD” icon at the top of the sharing screen
• Select HQ Quality
• Send the image.