Instagram is coming to iPad, 15 years later

After years of requests from users, Instagram will finally have a dedicated app for iPad. Beginning Wednesday, September 3rd, users are able to download the new app built specifically for Apple’s tablet. But it will be slightly different than the mobile app users are accustomed to.

Most significantly, the iPad app will open directly to a feed of Reels, the company’s TikTok competitor — perhaps a sign of the short-form-video times. Back in April, reporting indicated that Meta was working on an iPad app for Instagram after years of dragging its feet, in part prompted by the legally and politically iffy spot TikTok found itself in. For years, Instagram for iPad was something to tackle “at some point” — until its biggest competitor was facing what would effectively be a ban in the US. From this perspective, opening the app straight to Reels makes perfect sense.

Other features will be available on iPad: Stories will still line the top of the homepage, and users will be able to switch to a “Following” tab where they’ll be able to swipe between feeds that more resemble the mobile Instagram experience with actual still images (including a chronological option).

The bigger screen means more space and fewer clicks: comments on Reels will appear next to full-size videos, and the DMs page will have your inbox alongside chats, similar to what Messenger looks like on desktop. According to Meta, the new look is also “coming soon” to Android tablets.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri has said in the past that the group of people wanting an iPad app just wasn’t big enough for it to be a top priority. So what’s changed in the last few years? Perhaps the number of kids using tablets has changed the calculus, or TikTok’s regulatory vulnerability bumped this up on the to-do list. One thing that’s obvious from this is that Instagram is not letting up on Reels: it’s extended the length of clips, added the ability to repost and fast-forward them, and earlier this year was trying to recruit popular TikTokers. The company sees a future for Instagram on tablets and it’s short-form video all the way down.

Update, September 3rd: Added note about Instagram for Android tablets.



* This article was originally published here

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Instagram tests collaborative carousels your friends can add to

Image
Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram is testing a new feature that will let your friends add to your posts. When you’re about to post a carousel, Instagram will give you the option to let followers submit their own photos and videos that they want to include. The submissions won’t get added to your post by default, as you’ll have to approve each photo and video before they’re added. In a screenshot of the feature shared by Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, collaborative carousels will have an “add to post” button in the bottom-left corner. Image: Instagram This feature seems like a nice way to invite friends to share memories of recent outings or events you attended together. There are probably a lot of other creative prompts people can come up with, too, like having your friends and followers submit their favorite pet pictures. Instagram already lets you collaborate with other creators on the platform to create shared feed posts...
Read more

Everything you need to know from the Facebook whistleblower hearing

Image
Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Congress will hear new concerns about child safety on the world’s largest social network On Tuesday, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen is appearing before a Senate Commerce subcommittee in what promises to be one of Facebook’s toughest congressional hearings in years. After serving as a source for a string of bombshell reports from The Wall Street Journal , Haugen went public on Sunday with concerns about Instagram’s mental health impacts on its youngest users, drawn from internal Facebook reports. The result has been a new focus on child safety — a particularly sore point for Facebook . The company has disputed claims that Instagram exacerbates body issues in teenage girls, but the broader concerns about algorithmic amplification of harmful content have been harder to dismiss. In a hearing last week , Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) shared the results of a test in which his own staff was bombard...
Read more

Instagram and Threads moderation is out of control

Image
Image: The Verge On Threads, the topic of “Threads Moderation Failures” is trending . Some users complain their accounts are being deleted or restricted for linking to articles with controversial topics. Instagram and Threads boss Adam Mosseri is directly replying to some complaints and said he’s “looking into it.” And I’m one of many people who’s had their account deleted for allegedly being a child — which I am not. Moderation is a perennial problem on social media, but based on social media posts and The Verge staff’s own experiences, Meta is currently banning and restricting users on a hair trigger. One of my colleagues was locked out of her account briefly this week after joking that she “wanted to die” because of a heatwave. Others, like Jorge Caballero, say the automated system has added fact checks with mistakes to material it detects as political, as well as throttling posts with factual information for events like hurricanes. Some hav...
Read more