Thanks to the ability to share photos as documents and keep the original quality, WhatsApp users on iOS and Android can now send high-quality images without worrying about the platform displaying low-quality ones.

It has been under beta testing for about a month, but just a few users have had access to it, according to WABetaInfo. All iOS and Android WhatsApp users can now access it, though.

On an iOS device, users must hit the “+” icon, choose “Documents”, and then “Choose photo or video” in order to send an original-quality image via WhatsApp.

Users of Android use the same approach. But instead of tapping on the “+” icon, they tap on the paperclip “attach” symbol.

The method’s file size restriction is 2GB, set by the platform. According to MyBroadband’s testing, South African users of WhatsApp for iOS and Android seem to be able to access the functionality.

In August 2023, the business owned by Meta Platforms began developing the feature for Android, and it also seems to have been made available to customers in South Africa.

Users of WhatsApp were limited to sending photographs via the “Photo & Video Library” option, which significantly reduced the quality of the images in order to conserve bandwidth.

In August 2023, the platform added a “HD” option for photos. It did, however, still somewhat compress photos and had an upper limit on image quality.

With an upgrade that included a number of new features, WhatsApp for iOS users could now send original-quality photos.

On iOS, users may now respond to status updates using their avatars and initiate group audio chats without ringing the entire group.

New chat bubbles were also added in the upgrade, which helped users see missed, ongoing, and finished calls more easily.