Instagram is finally developing an app for the iPad, according to a report from The Information. The publication says an Instagram employee with knowledge of Instagrams plans says a tablet app is part of Instagram owner Meta’s moves to take advantage of the TikTok situation.
iPad users have clamored for a version of Instagram for their tablets, ever since the social network first launched in 2010, but they have been forced to use the iPhone app on their iPads, which is not optimized for the iPad’s larger screen. However, Instagram has not shown the desire to develop an iPad app. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in 2022 that there were no plans for an iPad app because there is “not a big enough group of people” calling for it to make it a priority. In 2020, he blamed the lack of an iPad app on the limited number of employees working for the network, all of who had “lots to do,” and an iPad app was not the “next best thing to do yet.”
Not much information is available about the iPad version of the app, or when it might launch. The new app is a part of Instagram’s efforts to capitalize on a possible TikTok ban, although U.S. President Trump this week gave the app another reprieve.
Instagram has also doubled the length of its “reels” from 90 seconds to three minutes to match TikTok’s video upload length. The app’s interface has also been tweaked to better resemble TikTok’s.
The news of an iPad version of the Instagram app comes as Instagram invited creators to New York City to see a new video app named Edits. The new app is intended to replace CapCut, the ByteDance-owned video editing app that was removed from the App Store in January. The app allows creators to produce short-form videos on their mobile devices.
