Meta has just submitted a new version of WhatsApp beta to the iOS platform via TestFlight, version 23.4.0.70, and with it more updates to a new feature that is in development bring it closer to fruition. For the longest time, when you send a photo in WhatsApp, the app will compress it slightly to allow for more speed and less data usage when sharing between users and groups. However, this upcoming feature will allow for images to be shared in what the platform dubs "HD Quality."
This feature has been in development for a while, with it first being discovered during the 2.23.2.11 update on WhatsApp Beta for Android. It has been identified in WhatsApp Desktop Beta as well. WhatsApp will default to "standard quality" every time you send a photo when this feature is available to the wider public, so if you want to share high-definition photos all the time, you will need to select "HD Quality" each time.
It"s been identified as well that HD Quality is not Original Quality and does still compress the photo ever so slightly. But now, it will apply light compression limiting the original quality to 90%.
There is a correction for the news. It seems WhatsApp recently changed some configuration, and the quality will be set to "90%" when sharing images by using the "HD" option. This option will still preserve image dimensions, but a light compression is still applied to the image. https://t.co/bFnkn3NP6u
— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) February 16, 2023
It is not yet known when the feature will be available to the main update channel.
Source: WABetaInfo