Three years after Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, said the company didn’t have any plans to release an iPad app due to a lack of staff, The Information reports that the social media app is now actively developing an iPad version. What changed is the potential TikTok ban. Whether or not the Chinese app is pulled from the US again, this feud might be enough to make some users and creators switch (back) to Instagram. Getting a new option, such as using the iPad platform, might lure more people.
It’s unclear when an iPad app could arrive, as Instagram hasn’t made its plans public yet. In addition, a proper version might take quite a while to be released.
If we take WhatsApp as an example, an iPad app has been in the works for a couple of years now. I’m part of the WhatsApp Beta Program, and honestly, every new build feels like the app is far from being released for iPad.
That said, unlike WhatsApp, users can take advantage of Instagram as an iPhone app on an iPad. It’s not ideal, and it looks pretty bad on a 13-inch iPad Pro, but it’s fair enough on a tiny 7.9-inch iPad mini display.
Both of these apps could also help iPad users get new tools, as Meta apps are part of most of our digital lives. If we can chat using WhatsApp, post, like, comment, and watch Instagram content on a big screen, this could even make more people use Apple’s tablet.
That said, an iPad app for Instagram seems easier than the WhatsApp counterpart, especially because the way users sign in to Instagram is simpler.
An app could even create new formats of content for big screens, such as a push to landscape videos and so on. Recently, Instagram increased the length of reels from 90 seconds to three minutes, and longer videos are usually better suited for landscape positions.
BGR will keep reporting on Meta’s efforts to expand its apps to multiple Apple platforms.
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