Sending images on the internet can be a bit of a pain sometimes: Even though it’s simpler and quicker than ever, the quality has to suffer, and this happens in the case of Whatsapp too.
Thankfully, there’s an easy way to send an unaltered image via Whatsapp, and this method works for both Android and iOS.
How it works
In order to trick WhatsApp’s algorithm not to compress your images is… not sending images. Well, not sending images as *images*.
Let’s clarify this! Usually, after taking a photo or a screenshot, it is saved in your phone using a general extension like .jpg, .png, .heic or others, depending on your operating system or the app you’re using. WhatsApp knows how to compress photos saved with this extension. However, WhatsApp can’t compress documents, so sending a photo with a .doc or .pdf extension prevents compression.
Method for Android
If you use an Android phone, just open your file manager, go to your photo’s location and save it with a .doc or .pdf (or other) extension. Send it via Whatsapp and tell your recipient to download the photo (now saved as a document: “photoName.doc” or “photoName.pdf”) open their file manager, find the photo and change its extension to .jpg or .jpg (so from “photoName.pdf” to “photoName.png” – as an example), and then open it.
Method for iOS
The method is basically the same, but a bit simpler to do: Open gallery, go to the photo you want to share, press share and chose “Save to Files”. This automatically saves the photo as a file, and makes it visible in your iOS standard Files app. After you’ve done this, open WhatsApp, start a chat with the person you want to send the photo to, tap the little plus sign, and instead of “Photo & Video Library” choose “Document”. This will open your Files app, where you can select your previously saved photo. That’s about it: your recipient only has to download and open it.
Alternatives
There are designated apps that offer free photo sharing without compressing them, like Google Photos, Google Drive, Dropbox and many others. The downside to this is that you have to download a specific app.
