Some WhatsApp users say photos look stretched and distorted on Android

It seems like many WhatsApp users on Android are reporting that photos are showing up stretched and distorted after sending, and it all seems to point to a single app version.

Multiple threads on r/whatsapp have surfaced over the past few days, with users across different devices running into the same thing. Portrait photos are being displayed in a landscape frame, stretched horizontally and slightly cropped at the top and bottom.

Devices affected include the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, S23 Ultra, S24, S24+, S25, S25 Ultra, S26 Ultra, Pixel 8, Poco F6, ROG Phone 7 Pro, and Moto G Power, among others.

One Pixel 8 user in the comments pointed out that the photos actually arrive correctly on the recipient’s end. The distortion is only visible on the sending device. “It’s just something that’s changed with the Android app screen display,” they wrote. “At least recipients are seeing the correct image.”

Luckily, it seems like there might be a simple fix. At least one user mentioned that after they downgraded to the previous version, the issue went away. So they narrowed down the issue to WhatsApp version 2.26.17.72.

You can try grabbing an older version of WhatsApp through APKMirror. However, if you do not wish to mess around with APK files on your device, then the next best alternative is to send photos as documents instead. 

Not only does this method skip the compression on images, but it also bypasses this visual bug right now. So it’s a win-win situation anyway.

That said, in a separate thread, one person said they contacted WhatsApp’s support and went through everything suggested with no luck.

At the moment, you can either try these suggested workarounds or wait for WhatsApp to release a proper fix. The platform has not publicly acknowledged the issue as of writing.

Featured image credit: u/klb1997 / Reddit

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