It"s said better late than never, and the proverb has come true for the Meta-owned social media platform Instagram. The Instagram app for iPad has finally arrived, almost 15 years after the social network came into existence.
Instagram was founded back in October 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger as a photo-sharing app, which was later acquired by Meta (then Facebook). It gradually established its presence across all major platforms, including Windows, Android, iOS, Fire OS, and web browsers.
Reports suggesting that Meta is working on an iPad version of Instagram and "actively testing" it arrived earlier this year. However, the fact that it took so many years to launch a native iPad app appears even more surprising because Instagram was originally launched as an iPhone app.
"Today, we’re excited to announce we’re bringing Instagram to iPad. People have asked for this for a while, and we’ve taken the time to design an experience that optimizes your favorite parts of Instagram for a bigger screen," Meta said in a blog post announcing the app.
Instagram for iPad is made for "lean back entertainment" and takes advantage of the extra screen real estate on Apple"s tablets. Meta is using the app as another platform to push its short video format, because the first thing you"ll see on its homepage is a feed of Reels sitting below Stories.
Similar to its web version for desktops, Instagram for iPad displays messages and notifications in a split-screen layout so that you can access more features with fewer taps. Comments appear on the right-hand side of the video player when watching Reels, and the iPad"s bigger screen allows you to expand the comments section while watching Reels.
The app also comes with the Following tab, where you can switch between multiple feeds. You can use the "Latest" feed to see content from accounts you follow in chronological order and see recommended posts from accounts that follow you back in the "Friends" feed.
Recommended posts and reels from accounts you follow appear in the "All" feed. Meta added that the new tablet design will arrive on the Instagram app for Android.
Instagram for iPad is now rolling out to all users globally and is available on the App Store to download. The app is available in over 30 languages and requires users to have an iPad model that supports iPadOS 15.1 or later versions.