Instagram Takes Aim At TikTok With New Reels-First iPad App

Instagram has rolled out a dedicated iPad application, placing Reels at the centre of its interface as parent company Meta sharpens its competition with TikTok.

The app, launched on Sept. 3, seeks to address years of user frustration with the lacklustre iPad experience, which until now relied on a stretched iPhone version.

The new iPad app defaults directly to the Reels tab, letting users scroll through short-form videos on a larger display. According to tech news portal TechCrunch, the iPad version mirrors almost all the viewing functions available on iPhones. Stories now appear neatly at the top, while a sidebar on the left provides access to essential features such as the following feed, direct messages, search, explore and notifications.

Instagram's Feed has also been reworked for the tablet format. As TechCrunch reported, users can choose between three views. These include “All” for recommended posts and reels from accounts followed, “Friends” for updates from mutual friends and “Latest” for a chronological feed.

Instagram Reels has become a cornerstone of Meta's strategy in the battle for short-form video dominance, accounting for over 20% of the time users spend on Instagram, according to news agency Reuters. With the new iPad app, the feature takes pride of place on the bigger screen, underlining Meta's ambition to drive engagement.

Until this release, iPad users were limited to a scaled-up iOS app that left much to be desired. TechCrunch reported that Instagram has now redesigned the experience to make full use of the larger display. When watching a reel, for instance, comments are displayed conveniently to the side, while the messages tab allows users to open a conversation alongside an overview of all active chats.

The app is already available for free download through Apple's App Store. As Reuters outlined, Instagram has also confirmed that an Android tablet version is in development. For now, the iPad app supports devices running iOS 15.1 or later.

Despite Instagram's 15-year history, the company consistently downplayed the need for a tablet version. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in the past that there was no urgency in building an iPad app, reported TechCrunch. Earlier this year, The Information revealed that work on the iPad app was finally underway, after years of demand. In the meantime, third-party solutions such as Retro had reportedly sprung up to plug the gap and offer iPad users a more tailored Instagram experience.