Instagram fans hoping for an iPad app may finally get their wish, if a new report is accurate. The Information, citing an internal source, claims the company is developing an app for iPadOS.
What isn’t clear is why it took Instagram so long to start work on something that seems like an obvious win. It’s had long enough to make an iPad app: the first Instagram post was made way back in July 2010 and the iPhone app launched less than three months later. But the company showed little interest in building an app for the iPad, which had debuted earlier that year.
As MacRumors explains, the excuses for this omission have varied over the years. In 2020, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said the company had “lots to do” and not enough staff to accomplish them. In 2022, he said instead that there were not enough users demanding an iPad app for it to be a priority.
We don’t have access to Instagram’s internal numbers, but it feels like an obvious fit for the iPad’s larger screen. Instagram’s angle when it launched was all about sharing photos, and even though the site has since pivoted, as almost all social networks have, to a more generalised “videos and influencers and trends” approach it remains highly visual. TikTok has an iPad app; Facebook has an iPad app; Snapchat and Pinterest and X have iPad apps. It’s just weird that Instagram doesn’t.
Maybe that will change soon. But we don’t know how soon: The Information’s sources don’t predict a launch timeframe. In the meantime, there are workarounds: you can install the iPhone app instead, or just use Instagram in the browser.
Want it now? Read: How to get Instagram on iPad.
Author: David Price, Editor, Macworld
David has been writing about technology for well over two decades, and got on board the Apple hype train when covering the original iPhone launch in 2007. He is an enthusiastic Apple Watch evangelist and feels that the HomePod is misunderstood.