WhatsApp users on iOS can now send uncompressed media as a file

WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature on iOS that allows users to share photos and videos as a document to preserve their original quality. As spotted by WABetaInfo the official changelog provided alongside WhatsApp’s 23.24.73 update on iOS notes that users can now “easily send original quality media as a file,” as an alternative to the compressed approaches the communications app defaults to.

This feature was spotted being tested by a small subset of users in November, but is now releasing to all iOS users. The changelog notes that this is rolling out “over the coming weeks” so it may take a while to appear on your device, but when it does you can access it by tapping the “+” in chat, selecting “Document” and then “Choose Photo or Video.” Once sent, recipients can tap into the file on WhatsApp to view photos and videos, but previews don’t seem to appear in the main chat interface. There’s a 2GB limit on the files that can be sent using the feature.

WhatsApp has also been testing the same feature for Android users since at least September this year, which suggests a stable release for Android devices may not be too far behind.