About time, don’t you think?
Meta has finally realised that there’s an entire range of Apple tablets, even though it has been 15 years since the very first one. To celebrate the sudden lucidity, it has created the official version of Instagram for iPad.
According to Meta, the iPad version is redesigned “to reflect how people use bigger screens today”, which it calls “lean-back entertainment”.
Is Instagram for iPad different from the iPhone version?
Yes, but not by much. Here are some important differences to the Instagram experience on Apple iPads:
The iPad version goes to Reels upon app launch.
When you open the app, the starting screen lands on Reels. The phone version defaults to Feeds.
In the iPad version, the Stories sit above Reels. This also differs from the iPhone version, where Stories appear on top of your Feed instead.
The Following tab comes with three sub-categories as seen at the top: All, Friends, and Latest.
The iPad version also has a new Following tab. It contains “All”, which displays the algorithm’s recommendations and the content creators you follow.
It also has “Friends”, which only shows content from mutual follow-backs, and “Latest”, which arranges posts chronologically, with the most recent ones appearing first. Users can choose between these three Following feeds.
Finally, you can reply to private Direct Messages (DMs) without having to lose sight of your DM inbox (making use of the tablet real estate). Similarly, the Reel will still be watchable when you open up the comments section below to interact with the content.
For us, a big perk is that the app is no longer constrained to the phone version with ugly blocks and bars on the sides.
How can I download Instagram for iPad?
Like grabbing any other app for your iPad. Simply go to the App Store on your iPad and search for Instagram. It should be live at the time of publishing. If it’s not there, wait a little bit and try again.
What about Android tablets?
In its iPad app version announcement, Meta said that the tablet app for Android will be “coming soon”.