WhatsApp finally issues update that stops it ruining your photos

It's annoying when you snap a high-resolution pic - as most newly released smartphones have a high-quality camera as standard now - only to see its quality diminish when you send it to someone else.

You'll know the frustration if you've ever tried to send photos over social media between Android and Apple devices. Without features like Apple's Airdrop, which maintains photo quality during transfer, apps like WhatsApp compress the files reducing their overall quality.

In response to the irritation of two billion worldwide users, the Meta-owned company introduced a feature last year that allows users to select the HD quality (4K resolution) option when they want to send a file.

Current WhatsApp users have to select HD quality every time they send a photo / NurPhoto / Contributor / Getty

At the time, Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg shared the new feature on Facebook with the caption: 'Sharing photos on WhatsApp just got an upgrade — now you can send in HD.'

However, doing so doesn't change the settings for WhatsApp, meaning users have to select the HD option every single time they want to send a media file or it will send in standard quality. This feature is currently limited to photos and does not apply to videos.

Alternatively, some tech-savvy users have found a workaround that involves sending media files as documents (so long as it's under 2GB) preserving their quality.

Now, WhatsApp is developing a feature that lets you set your preferred default image and video quality for all messages.

WABetaInfo discovered that WhatsApp is testing the option in the app's 'Storage and Data' settings. Users will soon be able to open a setting labelled 'Multimedia upload quality' where the preferred default sending quality can be selected as standard or HD.

The feature is reportedly available in the WhatsApp beta version 2.24.5.6 / NurPhoto / Contributor / Getty

After thorough testing is done, WhatsApp could release this feature to all Android users, and possibly Apple too.

WABetaInfo reported that users can expect to see this option on their Android devices in the coming months and it is currently available on the WhatsApp beta version 2.24.5.6.

Whilst this is a major improvement to increase control over sending files, it cannot say much for the receiving end as users can also dictate whether they want to receive WhatsApp files in standard or HD quality.

So if you want your friend to appreciate your photography skills, make sure they can receive HD-quality images on their side of the app.