WhatsApp update includes easier photo sharing, PDF support, new backgrounds and more

The new update has fixed some of WhatsApp's problems

The new update is now available on all iOS and Android phones (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

WhatsApp has introduced a range of new features that should make the world's biggest messaging app a little better.

The functionality changes in the update are fairly major, and get rid of a few niggling problems with the service.

The most useful is the new photo sharing feature - rather than being limited to their photo album, users can share pictures stored on platforms like Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive from within the app, as long as they've got those apps installed on their phone.

You can now also share documents, getting rid of the need to resort to email when you need to send someone an important file. Again, these documents can be sent from Google Drive, Dropbox or a range of other similar services.

Videos are also better now - users can pinch the screen while a video is playing to zoom in, to get a closer look at the action.

There's a range of new solid-colour wallpapers if you like to keep the app's design simple, and a technical update has fixed a problem that was causing the app to use up a lot of storage space on iPhones.

The features are available now on iOS and Android phones, and are included in the version 2.12.15 update.