You know what sucks? Seeing that you’ve received an image from and opening it, only to find that the quality has been compressed beyond recognition. It happens more often than we’d like, particularly on the (currently controversial) instant messaging platform, Whatsapp.
However, having heard our complaints for once, the app is working on a feature that will put users in control of compression and image quality.
Meme or mass of pixels? Whatsapp lets you decide
After all this time, Whatsapp is finally offering a quality selection for when you’re sending images. This feature was added in the latest Whatsapp Beta update, picked up by the reliable folks over at WABetaInfo.
As you can see, when sending an image you get three options:
- Auto(recommended): Whatsapp detects the best compression for your image based on several factors (apparently, there isn’t a whole lot of info on what that means).
- Best quality: does what it says on the tin.
- Data saver: the heaviest compression option, for when you need to send a meme but only have 3MB of data left.
And that’s it for now. The feature is currently still in beta, and we’re not sure when it might make its way into the mainstream, but when it does we’ll welcome it with open arms.
Whatsapp’s been getting a healthy handful of new features recently, possibly to draw eyes away from the less-than-flattering headlines it and its parent company, Facebook, have been making this year. Some have been rather nifty, like messages that can only be viewed once. Others are utterly nightmarish, like ‘Shops’.
