Twitter won’t crop your images anymore, tests 4K image uploads
Twitter is changing! The social network started as a text-based service but has evolved since and now you can use it to send voice messages, and also post pictures. The auto-cropping feature for images was introduced back in 2018 in order to keep tweets neat and tidy but last year a scandal broke out after users experimentally found out that AI cropping tends to pick lighter-skinned people, regardless of the original framing.
Twitter acknowledged the issue and started working on a fix that was supposed to bring the “what you see is what you get” principles of design, meaning quite simply: the photo you see in the Tweet composer is what it will look like in the Tweet.
Well, half a year later the feature is here. Twitter has announced via its Twitter Support account that the new feature is rolling out to Android and iPhone devices in what appears to be a testing phase to evaluate a more broad rollout.
Well, half a year later the feature is here. Twitter has announced via its Twitter Support account that the new feature is rolling out to Android and iPhone devices in what appears to be a testing phase to evaluate a more broad rollout.
Now testing on Android and iOS: when you Tweet a single image, how the image appears in the Tweet composer is how it will look on the timeline –– bigger and better. pic.twitter.com/izI5S9VRdX
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) March 10, 2021
Twitter users were fast to voice their concerns with the new feature and its potential abuse. If someone uploads a really tall image it will “break” the page and force people to scroll down for quite some time. Nothing to be concerned about, as it turns out. Twitter has limited this new feature to standard image aspect ratios.
Have a collection of higher res photos waiting to be shared? We’re testing ways for you to upload and view 4K images on Android and iOS.
If you're in the test, update your high-quality image preferences in “Data usage” settings to get started. pic.twitter.com/EgW5fsb8Z8— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) March 10, 2021
Another new option that Twitter is testing is the ability to upload high-quality images. The maximum resolution tops at 4K and you can toggle this option depending on your Internet connection in the app menu.
Things that are NOT allowed: