Huge free WhatsApp upgrade could make you look better from every angle

WhatsApp has rolled out a new feature that will improve the way you look in photos and videos. It should be available on your version of the app for iPhone and Android now, but if you don't already have it, double check your downloads.

The update adds the ability to send HD videos, as promised by Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg last month. This is in addition to being able to send HD images through chats, which was also rolled out recently.

The new feature is simple to use. If a photo is available in a higher resolution on your phone, you will see a HD icon at the top of the screen next to the edit options before you send it. Tap this and you can choose the resolution – such as "3024 x 4032" for a JPG taken on an iPhone.

The same is true for video. The HD icon will again appear before you send the clip, offering you the option to send it in a higher resolution. You can still choose a standard quality version of the video instead, to save data. There's a file size indicator also listed to help you decide.

HD photos and videos have been available to beta users for a while, but now the rest of us can benefit from the ability to send high-res content too.

There's a lot going on in WhatsApp towers at the minute. A native version of the WhatsApp desktop app for macOS is finally available to all, while screen sharing is another feature that has been added across iOS, Android and Windows versions.

It's clear that Meta is trying to stay one step ahead of Elon Musk's X platform (formerly Twitter), which plans to introduce video and voice calling to the social network soon.

Meta also has Threads, its own direct X rival, but needs to add more features to that service too if it wants to win back the millions of users who originally signed up but have since gone quiet.

Feature drops have arrived but aren't as regular as the ones coming to WhatsApp, it seems.