WhatsApp seems to be playing around with a couple of new things on its latest beta updates. With version 2.21.14.15, they are testing out a large link preview to better see what the link sent int your conversation is all about. As for beta update version 2.21.14.16, they seem to be working on image quality settings, similar to what they did previously with videos. It will let you send best quality photos if you don’t want to send them in their usual compressed quality.
WA Beta Info shares these things that WhatsApp is working on in the beta versions of the apps. For version 2.21.14.15, we see the large link preview that WhatsApp previously said was arriving on iOS devices. The Android app will also be getting this feature, which does what its name says. You’ll see bigger and higher quality previews of the links that are sent in your conversations. However, not all websites support large previews so in those cases, you’ll still get the usual small thumbnail.
Meanwhile, version 2.21.14.16 shows that they are working on the option for you to send photos and videos in their best quality. In the app settings, you can choose in the photo upload quality and video upload quality settings which one you want to be the default. Previously you had auto (WhatsApp detects the best quality) and data saver (compression is enabled), both of which are already compressed quality.
But now you also have the best quality option where WhatsApp will use the best quality that’s available for the photo or video. The warning of course is that if you’re using your mobile data, sending media in its bets quality may actually eat up a lot of your data allocation. So if you’re working on limited data, it’s still best to use the data saver quality so you won’t run out. But if you’re connected to WiFi, then the best quality option will be good enough.
These features are still under development but will probably soon be available for beta testers. No word yet on when they will roll out on the stable version but that may still be some time in the next few months.