Although we use them every day to share things with our friends and family, messaging apps reduce the size and compress our photos and videos to unsuspected limits. To give you an idea, a 3 MB photo sent by WhatsApp is compressed to 331 KB, which makes it lose a huge amount of detail and sharpness and, therefore, quality.
It is true that sending photos by WhatsApp is easy and fast, but there are several alternatives that you can use to do exactly the same without losing quality. All of them are completely free. If you prefer to continue using WhatsApp, you can send photos and video without losing quality using this trick, although it is somewhat tedious.
WeTransfer:
We started with the veteran. WeTransfer is a service that allows you to send up to 2 GB of files to any person without losing a bit of quality. Simply access your website, enter your email, then the person (s) you want to receive the files and, finally, upload them. You can upload whatever you want, from a JPEG photo to an Illustrator .ai file.
When the upload is complete, all people whose emails you have written will receive a download link that will expire after seven days, more than enough time to download the files. You will also receive the link in your inbox, and you can copy it to send it to all the people you want on WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
Download WeTransfer | Android | iOS
Telegram:
One of the benefits of Telegram is that you can use it for virtually anything. You have bots that work for everything, channels, group chats, private chats, a personal cloud and, of course, a system for sending files without compression.
It is enough that, when selecting which photos and videos you are going to send, select the option "Send a file". Thus the application will send the complete file and not a compressed version (the compression of Telegram, in some cases, is significantly more aggressive than that of WhatsApp).In fact, you can use the Telegram channels to create a kind of home WeTransfer. You just have to create a private channel, upload everything you want (following the method mentioned above) and share the link with whoever you want to have access to. The good thing is that, unlike WeTransfer, this link does not expire.
Download Telegram | Android | iOS
My Drop:
My Drop is an app developed by Xiaomi that allows the sending of files through WiFi Direct. Basically, what My Drop does is create a private network between two Android phones, which allows reaching a really high transfer speed. It is available on all Xiaomi phones, and the app can be downloaded from Google Play on almost any Android.There are other apps that use this same technology, such as Share it, Xander or Send Anywhere, they all work exactly the same and are also free. The only drawback of this type of apps is that they are not compatible with the iPhone. The closest thing is an app called FotoSwipe, which you can download for free on both Android and iOS.
Download My Drop | Android
Portal:
Portal is an app developed by the same team as Push Bullet that serves to send files between devices connected to the same WiFi. You just have to install the application on your mobile or iPhone, scan the QR code of the issuing device and select in this the files you want to send.
There are no size limits and the transfer, which is done through your WiFi network, is very, very fast. You can also use it to send files from the computer to the mobile and vice versa.Download Portal | Android | iOS
Cloud Apps:
Cloud apps are the ones you want and more, and they all work the same. You can choose Dropbox, Google Drive, One Drive, MEGA or the one you like to upload your files and share them with as many contacts as you wish. The main difference between these services is the space you have available for free.
Dropbox offers 2 GB, Google Drive and One Drive 15 GB, and MEGA no more or less than 50 GB. If you are a member of Amazon Prime you can also enjoy 5 GB on Amazon Drive and unlimited storage of photos and videos on Amazon Prime Photos, which is like Google Photos but without compression.
Other systems:
NFC and Bluetooth:
If you want to send files between Android phones you can also use two old known technologies: NFC and Bluetooth. The first one has the advantage of being almost instantaneous, although it requires that both devices be very close together. It's fine for a punctual photo or video, but if you're going to send large files, it may not be the best option.You can also use Bluetooth. It has no limits, it is universal and you can use it with any Android mobile. Advantage? You can send as many files as you want, no matter how heavy they are, and you do not need data or WiFi connection. Disadvantage? It's not as fast as the NFC or some of the apps mentioned above.
Unfortunately, neither of these two systems will serve to send files between iPhone or Android phones to iPhone or vice versa.
