Best Way to Share Full Resolution Photos Between iOS Devices

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Level 1

7 points

Best Way to Share Full Resolution Photos Between iOS Devices

I'm looking for the best way to share full resolution photos between Apple iOS devices. I'm curious if Airdrop is better than iMessage or vice versa, or if there's another better method. I experimented with one photo taken with an iPhone X that I sent to a 7 Plus via Airdrop and via iMessage. Both photos showed the same resolution (3024 x 4032), but the one sent via Airdrop was 5.1 MB while the one sent via iMessage was 6.0 MB. What causes this change is size? Is the 6.0 MB photo really better quality? Thanks!

iPhone 7 Plus, iOS 10.3.3

Posted on Jan 16, 2018 2:09 PM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

194,733 points

Jan 16, 2018 2:24 PM in response to saabs4life

When send photos with Air Drop or iMessages, the format may be converted, if your iPhone X is taking the photos in HEIC format. It will depend on the quality of the JPEG compression, how good the result will be.

See: Using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices - Apple Support

Apple does unfortunately not give any details on the quality of the format conversion.

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Answer 2

Jan 16, 2018 2:48 PM in response to saabs4life

The quality of HEIC vs JPEG used on the iPhones should not be any different as if the iPhone 7 was on IOS 11 it could also use HEIC. However, the iPhone X Camera is obviously better than the iPhone 7 so for the best quality image you want to use that camera with the High Efficiency (HEIC) format.

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Answer 3

Jan 16, 2018 2:15 PM in response to saabs4life

On my devices I experience that if you send a large image (e.g not one taken on an iPhone camera but on a DSLR) is that iMessage will send a very low quality image over (this depends on your settings). WhatsApp is a good way however you are right in that primarily airdrop is the best way to ensure a high quality image. The quality of the photo is not necessarily about the size of it in megabytes it is more in relation to the dpi and amount of megapixels. The 5 mb photo that you took is not that big so iMessage would not compress it and send as a lower quality image. To ensure that iMessages does not lower the quality of your image go to settings > iMessage > Low-Quality Image Mode. Make sure that this mode is not on as other wise some of your images will be sent in lower quality. I would say overall though that WhatsApp or airdrop is the best as it is easier to send. Sometimes iMessage struggles to send large photos when on low signal or abroad on holiday.

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Answer 4

saabs4life Author

Level 1

7 points

Jan 16, 2018 2:17 PM in response to speedster2005

So then why was the Airdrop photo only 5.1 MB when the photo sent through iMessage was 6.0 MB? The original photo on the iPhone X is 3.0 MB. However, it should be noted that my iPhone 7 Plus is running iOS 10.3 and the iPhone X is running iOS 11.

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Answer 5

saabs4life Author

Level 1

7 points

Jan 16, 2018 2:27 PM in response to léonie

The iPhone X is taking photos in that format. My iPhone 7 Plus is running iOS 10 so it is not using that format. I'm curious about this issue both from the perspective of pictures taken with a friend's iPhone X while we're together on vacation for me to save the highest quality pics and for me to share pics I take with my iPhone 7 Plus with Android users. But the question about sharing with Android users is for another topic. I right now usually import the pics to iPhoto and then export from there to their SD memory cards since WhatsApp reduces the quality so much. Thanks!

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Answer 6

Jan 16, 2018 2:29 PM in response to saabs4life

WhatsApp compresses the images to send them quicker but it shows not visible reduction in the quality of the image. On latest versions of WhatsApp app though they have not been compressing images and will send up to 100mb without compressing.

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Answer 7

Jan 16, 2018 2:11 PM in response to saabs4life

AirDrop is probably your best bet. I find the quality tends to be better and things transfer faster.

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Answer 8

saabs4life Author

Level 1

7 points

Jan 16, 2018 2:24 PM in response to tylercharlie118

I thought WhatsApp reduced photo quality, and rather drastically.

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Answer 9

Jan 16, 2018 2:27 PM in response to saabs4life

Yeah exactly what "léonie" said. IOS 11 has the ability to make photos take up almost half the space of photos in IOS 10 so the conversion is probably why.

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