After 15 Years, Instagram Finally Launches an iPad App
Instagram has officially launched a native iPad app, which has long an afterthought for the platform.
How It Works
The app opens directly to Reels, with Stories featured at the top.
A new Following tab lets users sort content by All, Friends, or Latest, with the option to set any as the default.
A navigation bar on the left provides quick access to Search, Explore, Messages, and more.
Comments can be expanded while watching Reels in full size.
Messages can be viewed at a glance, including specific conversations.
Why It Matters
After 15 years, Instagram has delivered a dedicated iPad experience, moving beyond the scaled-up iPhone app. The new app is designed for immersive Reels consumption while keeping comments and messages, two of Instagram's most important engagement features, easily accessible.
People tend to use apps on larger devices like the iPad for longer sessions, which aligns with video consumption habits, as Adam Mosseri noted. Around 20% of Instagram users already spend time watching Reels, so opening the app directly into Reels reflects these patterns.
Earlier reports suggested Instagram was considering a Reels-only app. While that has not materialized, the iPad launch could be seen as an iteration of that plan, giving users with larger screens an experience centered on Reels.
Instagram follows TikTok, which launched an enhanced tablet app in 2023, Snapchat, which rolled out an iPad app last week, and YouTube, which has long supported tablets. With an Android tablet version also on the way, Instagram is bringing its experience closer to parity with competitors and may even be laying the groundwork for a rumored Instagram for TV app that offers a more lean-back viewing option beyond mobile and desktop.
What It Means for Creators
Unlike YouTube, where viewers spend the most time on TV screens, iPad or tablet usage is unlikely to surpass mobile for Instagram. Still, creators and brands should keep a close eye on how their content appears across Instagram’s expanding experiences. These include the iPad app, Quest VR headsets, a potential TV app, and forthcoming smart glasses with displays. If any of these experiences were to gain more traction, it would be a clear signal to prioritize content for them.
What Could Be Next
It may have taken Instagram a long time to reach this point, but rapid iteration is likely. One of the first updates could build on its recently launched Reels linking feature, such as creating a dedicated space for discovering multi-part Reels, which would align with the longer viewing sessions that tablets enable.
In the short term, a simpler but equally valuable update would be adding a breakdown of insights for Reels based on where views come from across devices and surfaces. Similar to YouTube, creators could see how views are split across TV, mobile, desktop, and tablet, helping them optimize content strategies for each environment.
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