In iOS 26, Apple quietly added a neat new option that lets you send smaller-sized previews of images over Messages so that recipients get them right away, before the full-resolution images arrive.

iOS 26 Messages Feature 2 1
Thanks to the new setting, your recipient will receive a lower-quality preview almost instantly, followed by the full-resolution image. And if you're traveling with limited cellular data or using a metered data connection, they only get the compressed preview version – ensuring the original high resolution image doesn't hoover up your data.

How to Enable Send Photo Previews

Apple has made this feature easy to toggle on or off depending on your needs. Here's how to enable it:

Open Settings on your iPhone.
Scroll down and tap Apps.
Select Messages from the app list.
Toggle on the switch next to Send Low-Quality Photo Previews.

Once enabled, the feature works automatically, so you don't have to do anything else.

A Note on Low Data Mode

You can make sure that only smaller-sized previews of images are sent to recipients by keeping your iPhone in Low Data Mode. You can enable this manually by going to Settings ➝ Cellular Service. Choose your primary service, then tap Data Mode and toggle on Low Data Mode. The same setting appears under individual Wi-Fi network settings in Settings ➝ Wi-Fi (tap the encircled "i" button next to the Wi-Fi network name).

When Low Data Mode is active and Send Low-Quality Photo Previews is enabled, you may see photos in your Messages conversations appear slightly pixelated. Just bear in mind that they will only be delivered in higher quality versions if you send them when Low Data Mode is turned off.

Tag: Messages

Top Rated Comments

EugW

26 weeks ago

Wrong, iMessage compresses all photos before being sent.

Always a good idea to understand the topic you are engaging in before engaging.

That is incorrect. My wife and I iMessage each other photos all the time and they retain the original size. To confirm this I just compared my wife's original photo vs. the one I received. The one I received was not actually the exact same size, but it was ever so slightly bigger (by 2 KB). The differences I noticed were that the original was IMG_5827.HEIC and my received copy was IMG_5827.heic (lower case suffix) but had additional metadata indicating that the photo was from her. See below. (I've edited out her phone number that was included in the metadata in the version I received.)