Google Messages beta quietly drops 'Send photos faster' toggle

Google Messages is getting a new feature that lets users edit sent RCS texts, but reports coming in also suggest that the latest Messages beta update seems to be waving goodbye to the ‘Send photos faster’ option in RCS messages. Before you get too excited thinking your photos will now be sent in all their full-resolution glory, let’s clear up a crucial detail: the disappearance of this toggle doesn’t necessarily mean your images will stop getting compressed.

On the surface, it sounds promising. Like Google finally heard our cries for uncompressed glory. But even with that option turned off, Messages still loved to shrink your photos down to a thimble-sized fraction of their original size. So, the ‘Send photos faster’ toggle disappearing might not be the victory lap we were hoping for.

For those new to this drama, the ‘Send photos faster’ setting was introduced in 2023 to help speed up photo sharing in Messages by — unbeknownst to many — compressing images. Even with this option turned off, however, Google Messages stubbornly continued to shrink your pics down to bite-sized versions before sending them over RCS. So, while the toggle has gone poof, the compression problem hasn’t exactly packed its bags.

I still have the toggle on the latest Google Messages beta as seen in the screengrab below, and so do my colleagues. This means the removal of the option could be happening in waves and may soon hit the stable channel.

Interestingly, a few eagle-eyed users noticed this option missing after the latest beta update, and their reactions range from hopeful to frustrated. Some are crossing their fingers that this is a sign of better things to come — especially with the anticipated iPhone — RCS interoperability on the horizon. Others are less optimistic, reporting that their pictures still look like they’ve been through a digital shredder, even without the toggle.

But here’s a silver lining: while Google hasn’t magically fixed the compression issue by removing the toggle, there is a way to manipulate the app into sending images without compromising their quality. The folks over at Android Authority found a workaround, but it’s not a one-click fix. So, if you’re desperate to send crisp, clear photos, it might be worth digging into the details.

In the meantime, we’ll be keeping an eye on this development. With iPhones set to support RCS soon, there’s a glimmer of hope that these messaging woes might finally get sorted out — though, for now, it looks like we’ll still be dealing with squished photos, toggle or no toggle.