WhatsApp's in-app front camera (selfie) won't send photos in HD on iPhone 17 Pro — back camera works fine

Hey all,

I've narrowed down an issue with WhatsApp's built-in camera (the one you open directly from a chat, not the iPhone's native Camera app). Photos taken with the front/selfie camera refuse to send in HD, but photos taken with the back camera through the same in-app camera work fine.

When I tap the HD toggle after taking a selfie, I get this exact error:

"Can't set to HD. This media is not HD resolution."

My setup:

• iPhone 17 Pro
• Latest WhatsApp version (App Store)
• "Media Upload Quality" already set to HD in WhatsApp Settings → Storage and Data
• Camera format set to "Most Compatible" (not High Efficiency)
• Full camera permissions granted to WhatsApp

What I've already tried:

1. ✅ Confirmed Media Upload Quality is set to HD in WhatsApp settings
2. ✅ Verified camera permissions are "Full Access," not limited
3. ✅ Switched iPhone Camera format to "Most Compatible" (JPEG/H.264)
4. ✅ Force-closed and reopened WhatsApp
5. ✅ Confirmed the back camera through WhatsApp's in-app camera sends in HD without issue
6. ✅ Confirmed that taking a selfie with the native iPhone Camera app first, then attaching it via WhatsApp's Photo Library picker, sends in HD fine

So this seems isolated to WhatsApp's in-app front camera capture specifically. My guess is the front camera's native resolution on iPhone (even on a 17 Pro) is lower than WhatsApp's HD threshold when captured directly through the app, but the back camera's higher resolution clears that bar.

Questions:

• Is this a known limitation of WhatsApp's in-app front camera pipeline?
• Anyone with an iPhone 17 Pro (or other recent models) run into the same front-camera-only issue?
• Is there a setting that forces higher resolution capture specifically for the front camera in WhatsApp?

Workaround I'm using for now: take selfies with the native Camera app, then send via Photo Library instead of WhatsApp's built-in camera.

Thanks for any insight!