The largest photo-centric social network has finally launched an app for iPad – but Instagram’s new iPad app opens straight into videos, not photos.
On Wednesday, September 03, Instagram unveiled the previously rumored app for iPad, finally bringing the 14-year-old app to Apple tablets without using a web browser. But, Instagram’s iPad app isn’t just a re-packaged Instagram.
Instead, Instagram says that the new iPad app is redesigned around the iPad’s larger screen. One key change is that Instagram for iPad opens straight into Reels, sending users to videos rather than the feed mixed with photos and videos.
Instagram says the decision to send users straight to Reels was made to reflect how people use larger screen devices. At the top of the Reels on the iPad app, users will see a carousel for Stories.
While watching videos is likely a key reason to reach for an iPad rather than an iPhone, opening the app straight to Reels rather than the feed may be upsetting to photographers who have watched reach decline for photos as TikTok-like Reels grew in popularity.
While Instagram is putting Reels first on the app, the social platform is also launching a Following tab for the iPad app, which gives users more control over what pops up in the feed. That’s because the Following tab has three more tabs at the top: all to see everything from followed accounts, Friends to see recommended posts from accounts that you follow that also followed you back, and latest to see a chronological feed from followed users.
That chronological feed could prove popular, as bringing back the chronological feed was a common request before the network added a similar Following tab to the mobile app in 2022. Whether or not the chronological feed – or an app that opens straight to Reels – will alter photographers' engagement on the platform remains to be seen.
The app’s overall look, down to the comments, has also been adjusted for the iPad’s larger screen. “When designing Instagram for iPad, we wanted to take advantage of the bigger screen to give people more features with fewer taps, while keeping it simple,” the company wrote in a blog post. “We’ve made it easier to catch up on your messages and notifications with layouts that display both tabs. When you watch reels, you can expand the comments while the reel stays at full size, making it easy to catch up on the best reactions without missing a moment. It’s the Instagram you love, now with more space to play.”
The Instagram iPad app is rolling out globally beginning today at the App Store; it requires a device running iPadOS 15.1 or later. Instagram says an Android tablet app will be “coming soon.”
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