“People have asked for this for a while…” reads Instagram’s September 3 announcement. Yeah, Instagram. People have been asking for this for ages. “…and we’ve taken the time to design an experience that optimizes your favorite parts of Instagram for a bigger screen.”
Back before Apple moved the iPad off the iPhone’s iOS and over to iPadOS, its own operating system, you could use the iOS version of the Instagram app on an iPad, but it was clunky using it on a screen that was several times as big as the phones for which it was designed.
And then in 2019, iPadOS came along, and people assumed there’d be an Instagram app for it soon enough. After six long years of waiting, it’s finally here.
Yes, Instagram Finally Has a Proper iPad App
It’s great and all that Meta (which owns Instagram, as well as Facebook and WhatsApp) have something to show off for iPad users who’ve been forced for years to swap back and forth between iPad and phone to play phone tag with their Instagram accounts. Better late than never, I suppose.
But why did it take six years? Does it really take that long to just, you know, make things bigger? Turns out there are a few more tweaks than that. It sort of makes up for the long wait.
The iPadOS version of Instagram has a new Following tab, which shows you recommended posts and reels with a selection of three filters at the top of the tab. You can select all, friends only (those who also follow you back), and chronological order. Each is one click away.
When you open the app, you’ll be dropped straight into Reels. It looks like Instagram is eager to use all that screen real estate on the iPad to further nudge its users toward videos.
Got an Android and feeling left out? Instagram says the new tablet redesign is coming to Android tablets “soon,” although they don’t provide a timeline.
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