Facebook is introducing a new feature aimed at smartphone photographers. Which describes 99% of us. Facebook is upping the maximum resolution Messenger supports, from 2K to 4K, meaning you can now send and receive photos at full resolution without Messenger compressing them.

I'm old enough to remember a time when viewing a photo online would cost you both time and money. Time, because said photo took an age to load, and money, because metered internet connections were evil. And now, in 2017, you can send 4K photos using Facebook Messenger.

What a time to be alive.

Smartphone Photography Is Everything

In a blog post announcing the change, Facebook reminds us all that messaging increasingly has a visual component. And alongside the GIFs and emojis we often send photos to our friends and family. This is especially true now that smartphones make excellent point and shoot cameras.

To help budding smartphone photographers share their shots, Facebook has announced that "people can send and receive photos in Messenger at 4K resolution — or up to 4,096 x 4,096 pixels per image — the highest quality many smartphones support". An increase from 2K.

Facebook then shares sets of photos, with comparisons between the 2K and 4K. There is a difference, but only for those with a keen eye, and who zoom in on a small part of the photos. Still, with 17 billion photos sent using Messenger every month, Facebook knows what it's doing.

Sharing Photos of Food With Friends

This isn't the biggest change in the world, and it's one most of us probably won't have ever noticed if we hadn't had it pointed out to us. However, as more phones start shooting in 4K, the ability to share photos of your food with friends in high resolution cannot be a bad thing.

Does your smartphone shoot photos in 4K? If so, does it make a significant difference to the quality? Have you ever wished you could send 4K photos using Facebook Messenger? Do you think you'll make use of Messenger's new capability? Please let us know in the comments below!