Apple debuted the iconic and now wildly popular iPad in 2010. Just a few months later, Instagram landed on the App Retailer to speedy success. However for 15 years, Instagram hasn’t bothered to optimize its app structure for the iPad’s bigger display screen.
That is lastly altering right this moment: There’s now a devoted Instagram iPad app out there globally on the App Retailer.
It has been a very long time coming. Even earlier than Apple started splitting its cellular working system from iOS into iOS and iPadOS, numerous apps adopted a recent person interface that embraced the bigger display screen dimension of the tablet. This was the iPad’s calling card on the time, and people native apps optimized for its exact display screen dimension are what made Apple’s gadget stand out from a sea of Android tablets that largely ran telephone apps inelegantly blown as much as match the larger display screen.
Besides Instagram by no means went iPad-native. Open the prevailing app proper now, and you may see the identical telephone app stretched to the iPad’s display screen dimension, with awkward gaps on the edges. And you will run into the occasional issues if you submit pictures from the iPad, like low-resolution photos. Weirdly, Instagram did introduce layout improvements for folding phones just a few years in the past, which suggests the expertise is best optimized on Android tablets right this moment than it’s on iPad.
Instagram’s chief, Adam Mosseri, has long offered excuses, usually citing a lack of resources regardless of being part of Meta, a multibillion-dollar company. Instagram wasn’t the one offender—Meta promised a WhatsApp iPad app in 2023 and solely delivered it earlier this 12 months. (WhatsApp made its debut on phones in 2009.)
The recent iPad app (which runs on iPadOS 15.1 or later) gives greater than only a facelift. Sure, the Instagram app now takes up your complete display screen, however the firm says customers will drop straight into Reels, the short-form video platform it introduced five years ago to compete with TikTok. The Tales module stays on the prime, and you’ll hop into totally different tabs by way of the menu icons on the left. There is a new Following tab (the individuals icon proper beneath the house icon), and this can be a devoted part to see the newest posts from individuals you really comply with.
