Instagram has at last shipped a dedicated iPad app. Yes, fifteen years after launching on iPhone, Meta has delivered a tablet-optimised experience that opens straight into Reels, supports side-by-side navigation, and properly uses the bigger screen. The app is rolling out globally on the App Store from September 3, 2025.
Why this took so long makes no sense
For years, iPad users were stuck with a scaled-up iPhone app that blurred text, hid features, and wasted space. Meta repeatedly downplayed demand, even as iPad ownership grew and creators adopted tablets for editing, posting, and community management. Shipping a native iPad build in 2025 feels like a fix to a self-inflicted problem rather than a bold new direction.
Meanwhile, competitors moved on. TikTok has long offered a universal iOS app with proper iPad layouts, embracing the big display for discovery, comments, and live viewing. If your rival can do it, and your creators clearly want it, waiting this long was simply bad product stewardship.
Reels everywhere, formats nowhere
Instagram’s iPad app puts Reels front and centre. That aligns with usage trends, but it also highlights how messy Instagram’s video strategy has been. Over the years we have had Feed Video, Stories, Reels, IGTV, plus the now-retired IGTV app. Meta has promised simplification before, yet creators still navigate shifting rules around length, aspect ratios, music, and distribution.
Here is the clean approach Instagram should take now that iPad is in the mix:
- Call every video a Reel.
- Let any length or size upload.
- Deliver consistently across phone, iPad, and web, without hidden penalties or odd behaviour.
This would finally remove the guesswork for creators who already fight compression quirks and unexplained quality drops. We have previously reported on Instagram acknowledging it lowers some upload quality. That is the kind of friction a “one video format” policy could help eliminate.
“Create and enjoy in peace”
Even Instagram’s leadership has fuelled the confusion. Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri has repeatedly posted “best practices” for Reels, including guidance on lengths and watch-time targets. Helpful? Maybe. Necessary? Not really. Social platforms thrive when creators experiment freely, not when they chase ever-changing format advice that might be obsolete by the next tweak to the algorithm.
If Instagram truly believes in creativity, it should focus on robust tools and predictable distribution, not prescriptive virality checklists. The new iPad app is a great place to reset that culture: give creators the same editing, scheduling, and analytics power they expect on desktop, then get out of the way.
iPad first, finally: what this unlocks
A proper iPad app should do three things well:
- Serious creation: iPad is a primary editing device for many. Tighten the pipeline from LumaFusion, CapCut, Final Cut for iPad, or Adobe apps straight into Instagram with zero quality loss. Our previous coverage has shown how iPad workflows are maturing.
- Lean-back viewing: Opening into Reels makes sense on iPad where “sofa scrolling” dominates. Just ensure comments, DMs, and captions never obscure video. Reuters notes Meta is explicitly optimising for this lean-back behaviour.
- Consistency across screens: Draft on phone, finish on iPad, publish on web. No format surprises. No different exposure rules by device.
Meta’s bigger problem: unnecessary complexity
Instagram’s influence was built on simplicity. The platform drifted by piling features without resolving the basics. Rolling out iPad now suggests Meta understands it must reduce friction, especially as TikTok continues to ship clear, tablet-friendly experiences and creator tools. In Kenya and across Africa, where Reels monetisation and TikTok’s creator programs are expanding, clarity and stability will decide where creators post first.
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