""We only have so many people" to work on developing the app, Instagram said in February 2020. iPad owners aren't "a big enough group," it said two years later. The reason Meta took so long to deploy an iPad version of Instagram was instead likely its growing rivalry with Apple, a company Mark Zuckerberg has often criticized in recent years."
"There was no Instagram app for iPad before Meta (called Facebook at the time) purchased the photo-sharing app for $1 billion in April 2012, less than two years after the Instagram app launched on the iPhone. Instagram came out on iPhone in October 2010, several months after Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPad. After buying Instagram, Facebook chose not to release an iPad-ready app."
Meta unveiled an official Instagram app for iPad in early September 2025, nearly 15 years after Instagram's iPhone debut. The delay followed Facebook's 2012 purchase of Instagram and years without an iPad-ready release, during which Meta also blocked third-party reader apps from providing larger-screen experiences. The iPad app emphasizes Reels — short-form video — rather than Instagram's original photo focus, and introduces a Following tab. Instagram generated an estimated $66.9 billion in 2024, representing 40% of Meta's revenue, indicating ample resources; the prolonged absence of an iPad app likely reflects strategic tensions with Apple.
Read at BGR
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