Facebook Inc. announced today that pictures are about to get a lot better on Messenger, as the popular chat app will now support images at 4K resolution, the maximum resolution supported by most new smartphone cameras.

Users do not have to do anything different to take advantage of the new feature. Once they have updated to the latest version of Messenger, they can simply capture and send pictures as normal to share them in 4K.

“We heard that people want to send and receive high resolution photos in Messenger — and considering people send more than 17 billion photos through Messenger every month — we’re making your conversations richer, sharper, and better than ever,” Facebook Product Managers Sean Kelly and Hagen Green said in a blog post.

They added that despite effectively doubling the size of images sent in Messenger, users will still be able to send photos “just as quickly before.” According to Facebook, the increased resolution makes a major difference in image quality, improving both sharpness and clarity “so you can see every detail.”

The update goes live today, rolling out to iOS and Android devices in the U.S., Canada, France, Australia, the U.K., Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. Facebook said 4K image support will be arriving in other countries over the coming weeks.

The new support for 4K images is one of many updates Facebook has made to Messenger since it split the service from the core Facebook app in 2014. Other features added on the last two years include optional end-to-end encryption, AI-powered messaging suggestions, money transfers and more.

Many users initially pushed back against Facebook’s decision to move all of its messaging features to Messenger, forcing users to download the standalone app if they wanted to continue chatting through Facebook. Facebook appears to have won out in the end, with Messenger now boasting more than 2 billion users.

Photo: Facebook