The world is divided into two classes of people: those who share photos on WhatsApp, and those who avoid this possibility with the same commitment with which they avoid being run over when they go out on the street. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but as a strong candidate to be part of the second group whenever someone tells me they’re going to send me a picture, more specifically a photo, on WhatsApp, I immediately suggest alternative methods.

The reason is very simple and that’s it WhatsApp reduces the size of images and compresses them, to make your uploads faster and use less data. This is not a major problem if we are talking about, for example, graphic jokes, memes and the like, but if we are talking about images that we want to preserve in their maximum splendor, sending them via the Meta instant messaging service is, precisely, against our interests.

This problem is not new, in fact it has been present in the service since its inception and occasionally we learned that the company was conducting tests repair it. Earlier this year, without further ado, a feature appeared in the beta version that would allow you to adjust the quality of images, while in mid-2021 we could expect something similar only for videos. However, we haven’t heard any news in this regard.

Yes, I am speaking in the past tense because according to what we can read in The Verge, Mark Zuckerberg announced that WhatsApp now allows you to adjust the quality when sending images. She did so via her Instagram broadcast channel, and the company confirmed that they are also working on a similar video sharing feature. Of course, this is relatively good news, as it appears that images (and later videos) can be shared at a higher quality, but that some compression will still be applied, meaning that we will not be able to send images and videos in their original quality.

The rollout of this feature has already started, but it will be progressive, so it will take a few weeks before it is available to all WhatsApp users, and according to Meta it will come to Android, iOS and the web interface of the servicethat is, it will be universal in scope, even if the application for desktop operating systems is not specifically mentioned.