The Instagram App Is Better On iPad — Here's Why

If you've ever attempted to use Instagram on your iPad, chances are you immediately felt the temptation to close the app and never open it again. Since the app was never optimized for tablets, you essentially got the mobile experience, just on an iPad. Ultimately, everything felt awkwardly spaced, buttons were too small, and even watching Reels or Stories was nothing short of frustrating.

Well, Instagram finally decided it was time for a change and launched a fully optimized iPad app after years of waiting. You can download it from the App Store, and it's compatible with any iPad model running iPadOS 15.1 or later. Personally, I had been waiting for this update for so long that I eventually gave up, assuming having a proper Instagram app for iPads just wasn't a priority for the company.

Naturally, as soon as the news dropped, I headed straight to the App Store to download the app. After playing around with it, I realized that the app is not only a massive improvement over the previous iPhone-sized version on an iPad, but I actually think Instagram is better on iPad than on any other device.

Despite always being the type of person who chooses to watch TV shows and movies on an iPad, TV, or laptop rather than on a phone, I used to believe that Instagram content was better suited to smaller screens. Well, I'm not ashamed to admit that I was completely wrong. 

Watching Reels, Instagram Stories, and even swiping through images of my friends on vacation is a completely different experience on the iPad. Everything feels more immersive and a lot more enjoyable than it ever does on my phone. There's a major drawback to this, though: It's definitely going to lead to more doomscrolling, especially at times when I should be using my iPad for college and schoolwork. Thankfully, there are a bunch of iPad and iPhone apps designed to help you focus and minimize distractions. So, this shouldn't be too big of an issue.

If you've read Instagram's blog post announcing Instagram for iPad, it's pretty obvious that Reels is a primary focus of the new iPad experience. When you open the Instagram app on an iPad, Reels is the first thing you'll see. As you keep swiping, you'll realize it's essentially all Reels, as opposed to the usual Home screen you're used to on other platforms, where you're greeted with a mix of posts and Reels. 

The Home page on both the iPad and other apps still includes Instagram Stories, too, so you can quickly tap through and catch up with the stories of your friends, family, and favorite creators.

Before you get too excited by that header: No, it's not the iconic "Following" tab Instagram decided to remove years ago that let you see what your friends were liking and commenting on. Instead, the iPad app has a new "Following" tab that gives you multiple ways to see all the latest content from people you follow. 

The "Following" tab is divided into three sections: "All," "Friends," and "Latest." Unlike the iPad app's Home screen, the "Following" tab isn't just limited to Reels. Instead, it shows a mixture of both Reels and standard posts. The "All" tab displays the most relevant content from accounts you follow, while the "Friends" tab displays recommended content from accounts you follow that follow you back. The "Latest" tab does exactly what the name suggests, displaying posts and Reels from accounts you follow in chronological order.

Frankly, it reminds me of the old-school Instagram feed that existed before the current algorithm took over. And given that I was a huge fan of it, I can see myself using the iPad app just to be able to access it. It's the perfect way to see what your loved ones are posting before the algorithm buries them under random recommendations. Instagram also gives you quite a bit of flexibility here, letting you reorder tabs based on what you want to see first. By default, the tabs are listed in the following order: "All", "Friends", and "Latest." I decided to flip this order and put "Latest" first, followed by "Friends," since I didn't really think I'd reach for the "All" tab that often.

Finally, there are two little features that convinced me that the iPad is easily the best way to use Instagram right now. Given iPads have more screen real estate, Instagram decided to take advantage of it and add features that make your overall experience a lot more convenient and save you from constantly jumping back and forth between screens. 

The Direct Messages screen on the iPad now lets you reply to a specific conversation while still being able to see the rest of your inbox. This means that when you receive a new message from someone, all you need to do is hit the thread and jump right into it without losing sight of your other chats. On the phone app, you're limited to one chat at a time, which makes going back and forth between conversations a bit clunky. Of course, this isn't the mobile app's fault, as it simply doesn't have the same screen real estate to work with. 

Another perk is the ability to expand the comments when you're watching a Reel in full-screen mode without the comments section blocking the entire video. The comments section shows up in a panel alongside the Reel, letting you enjoy the video and scroll through reactions at the same time. On phones, the comment section blocks pretty much the entire video, which means watching the Reel and reading the comments simultaneously isn't always something you can do comfortably. Though these are both relatively small features, they're undoubtedly some of the top reasons the iPad app feels so much more user-friendly.