New Instagram app on iPad prioritizes Reels and adapts to larger screens

Apple Inc.’s new iPad app will open on Reels, the short video feature of Meta Platforms Inc., and rival TikTok, an alternative to the photo and video feed that opens by default on Instagram’s mobile app. Users can access traditional photo and video feeds through a separate tab, and the iPad version includes other known Instagram features, such as stories and direct messages.

“We have redesigned the experience to reflect how people use the bigger screens today,” Instagram wrote in a blog post.

Users have been requesting an iPad app for years, but Instagram never developed it, in part because of technical difficulties. When the photo-sharing service focused on growing in its early years, the company’s engineers struggled to ensure the app uploaded the images quickly, even with bad internet connections, and only showed the strictly necessary pixels for a phone’s screen. This meant the same image that looked great on a mobile app looked blurry and stretched on an iPad.

An app was also considered a low priority for engineering teams because the iPad is not the main consumer device, meaning it was unlikely to drive strong user growth.

The iPad has had a slight resurgence in sales in recent years and is projected to generate more than $28 billion in the fiscal year ending this month. Apple is expected to launch a redesigned iPad Pro later this year.

Instagram now has more than 2 billion monthly users and is estimated to account for about 50 percent of Meta’s total advertising revenue.

The redesign also demonstrates the popularity of Reels, the product of Meta short videos that looks a lot like ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok. Reels is an important time and attention engine on both Instagram and Facebook. Last November, Target said 50 percent of the time spent on Instagram is on Reels.

The Instagram app for iPad will be available as a free download from Wednesday. Target also released an iPad version of its WhatsApp messaging service in May.