Apps

Finally: Instagram Released an iPad App

I can’t believe we waited 15 years for this app and it sucks. Maybe Threads will be next to suffer the same fate?

Sam Clemente

08 Sep 2025 — 1 min read

Source: Instagram

Instagram has long been criticized for not bringing their app to the iPad. Now that is has…wow it really sucks. And I find that hilarious.

The app wastes a ton of space. Most of the sides of the screen are just completely wasted. This is a common design paradigm on the web, so it’s not the most egregious of a miss, but there’s no way to, well, make that not happen. Instagram has a multi-column view in their own Threads site (Threads, notably doesn’t have an iPad app either), but they didn’t implement it here, which is kinda sad.

The main thing about the app that’s particularly grim is that it defaults to the reels feed. Which just plain sucks. The paradigm here to try and push reels more into people’s faces. Instagram has a history of shoving reels in our faces, building algorithms to try and suck up as much of your attention as possible. They also tend to, well, bastardize the whole point of social media and turned it into a place where people go to watch ads.

My biggest fear for this is that the paradigm here that Instagram is pushing is going to make its way into the iPhone app as well as other social media apps. Sharing photos with your friends has become an afterthought for the app that was once designed specifically to share photos with your friends. Instagram has completely lost the plot with this app and it shows.