Why Instagram Doesn't Have an iPad App

Marques talks about a Twitter exchange he had with the head of Instagram about why there is not yet an iPad in 2022.
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[@64Ahmed]

The calculator thing is like saying "if i cant have a Rolls-Royce im gonna walk to work everyday"

[@makatron]

That was a pure BS answer for sure, there's nothing to innovate about a simple calculator.

[@JeskidoYT]

EVEN THE NINTENDO SWITCH HAS ONE

[@Mr.Dude101]

@@JeskidoYT Imagine 🤣

[@_sparrowhawk]

Either that or they figured - people use the iPhone for calculators.

[@datmesay]

🤣

[@dlb3232]

Apple could make a calculator app similar to quick note, dragging from the screen corner. This could allow it to overlay on top of any app you’re running for quick calculations…. Just a thought

[@prayashshrestha1639]

It would be revolutionary its not like Samsung hast that feature

[@maciejfyrvellsikorski]

Well, you get that functionality with typing the calculation to a search field on any ios/macos device, so I don’t think this would be much of an improvement to that

[@lacrossev]

My Asus Transformer TF101 from 2011 running honeycomb had a floating calculator...and that thing was nowhere near as polished as an ipad of the same generation.

[@cloodberst]

@Summit313 To use spotlight I have to exit the app I’m using to go to the home screen. And as a uni student who uses his ipad for note taking, I personally need a scientific calculator very often.

[@professorcrispy1634]

@@cloodberst buy a scientific calculator and use it next to your iPad

[@makatron]

If they built a proper iPad Instagram app I'd rather use a larger screen to enjoy the visual content that is the sole purpose of deliver visual engagement.

[@chrisjfox8715]

IG content is too low res to be properly enjoyed on an iPad screen

[@makatron]

@@chrisjfox8715 maybe you don't fill the entire screen but be able to see all the comments even when full screen to half the screen, if that makes any sense.

[@cronchcrunch]

Log into instagram via Safari then click the share arrow thingy in the top right, click add to home screen. It then installs as a proper web app and you literally can’t even tell that it runs in a browser, since the borders and everything will be gone when you click on it from the home screen.

[@makatron]

@@cronchcrunch thanks mate

[@x4E5t]

@@makatron just like KZbin.

[@MrCarzo]

A multi billion dollar company saying that they are "lean" is insanity. It cannot be that difficult. People have made iPad Instagram apps that worked better than the default app. IG saying they can't do because they are "lean" it is just lame. It's been a decade, make the app.

[@ChillinLikeBobDyllan]

It’s not that black and white.

[@Josegomez-md5qs]

Apple is at 3 trillion dollars

[@sickandloose]

@@ChillinLikeBobDyllan exactly...smh

[@AlejandroDeLaRosa05]

@@ChillinLikeBobDyllan it really is. There have be individual devs that have created their own third party tablet versions over the years. There is ZERO excuse after all these years.

[@iamslf]

money ≠ manpower

[@priyanshsiingh]

Just a thought: Instagram, the company, i feel like want their product to be always with you at all times. If they provided us with an good ipad experience it will motivate a lot of people who have iphones and dont want to carry a social media on their pockets an alternative which would be not good for the company as they cant grab your attention whenever. I feel as though this is also why instagram the website is really bad in terms of not allowing to upload content and such.

[@waff6ix]

🤔highly likely🧐

[@FloeticEnigma]

Exactly why I took IG off of my phone. The notifications are always popping up. But when I want to post, I need it on my phone… at least to make a story in the moment.

[@ibrahimadabo9417]

Yep! some apps are just best on phone, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. Can't do stories holding a big ass iPad...

[@jonashendel8881]

But they have a fairly ok webapp, much better than the current ipad situation for sure

[@marianne4902]

I have all my social media on a separate (older) iPhone because of this. I think if they don’t adapt to todays social climate of people intentionally using tech, Instagram wont make it another ten years. They’re already on their way out.

[@KaiSosceles]

The thing is...there USED TO BE instagram apps native to iPad. They were made by 3rd party developers until Intagram shut them down. Padview Padgram Retro for Instagram Pictacular Instapics All of these were shut down circa 2015/2016 when IG closed off their API to these developers. Its one thing for IG to say they dont have time for it. Its another to purposefully block other people from doing it (ahem...and doing it better than IG).

[@UConn140point6]

These were great apps, fantastic experience. Grids for Mac is a much more enjoyable experience than the Instagram phone app

[@chrisjfox8715]

Hence clearly they've made an active decision that it shouldn't exist for business reasons. It's priority is 0.

[@zues121510]

They don't want to even nudge their massive audience to iPad because there will be lots of people that uninstall insta on their phones because iPad has a nicer viewing experience/people want to use social media less nowadays. This means that Zuckerberg can't collect your data from a device that is guaranteed to always be on you.

[@Bambotb]

@@UConn140point6 still available, n

[@unkown34x33]

sounds like they are scared of *normal people* making it better than them! because they did. 3rd parties are not the enemy.

[@chasethomas6241]

The other issue is that Instagram compressed content (especially videos) so much that they wouldn’t look as good on the iPad, maybe even bad if looking at videos. So to really make the experience on iPad best they would have to dramatically upgrade their storage and upload system to allow for increased quality

[@chrisjfox8715]

🛎🛎🛎

[@ryanpaigeis]

bingo

[@Robertlyleseaton]

This is the main reason.

[@artoshia]

oh the hardware on the backend is there, its about cost, storing stuff is really expensive on the cloud, they wanna cost cut as much as they can, which is why video is and images are as compressed as they are.

[@aric85]

Exactly this. Think of the millions of photos being uploaded every day. The storage requirements are huge. Now imagine doubling or tripling it overnight. Huge increase in costs.

[@Raja995mh33]

the most stupid thing is that they in fact already have the layout, UI and everything. When you open Instagram in Safari and make a shortcut on the homescreen, it literally turns into an iPad app. It's not just a shortcut that brings you to Safari and opens the link, no. It's literally a mostly done app - even displayed in Multitasking as its own app and not Safari. All they have to do is tweak it a bit, add dark mode and they're done and could release that as an app.

[@bradavon]

That's literally not an iPad app. It's a Web app. Quite different.

[@abdsalamelkhamlichi6677]

@@bradavonI think what he is saying is that the foundation is alreday there. They just have to make a native ipad app similar to the web app.

[@ayoubjdair]

A web app written in web-based langs is entirely different to a native iOS app written in say swift or objective-c, and it behaves completely differently. Although it’s a hassle I think the reason they haven’t built a native iPad app is because they’re still yet to develop a “wow” feature for iPad users. With such large screen real estate you could include some amazing features, although that may piss off android and mobile users 🤷‍♂️ but it would make people (creators and obsessive gramers) migrate to iPad so I say make apple foot the bill for R&D

[@BadTripGaming]

That's a pwa , different from native app , it runs in webview

[@eyoeltewdros1]

I think that’s primarily why they don’t see the urgency in making an iPad app.. iPad users can just use the web experience at this point. Especially when the iPad user base is a very low percentage (probably single digits percentage)

[@WillJBailey]

My guess - there’s no iPad instagram app because they want to encourage people to use their phones because phones are trackable, and most iPads are not.

[@mrlightwriter]

I think you are on the right track.

[@zarkozi]

This. With one "ask app not to track" you became a worthless dead weight to them.

[@0bsmith0]

What? That's some made up nonsense that is not true.

[@WillJBailey]

@f2uQ9e Well, I did say it was a guess, but I think big apps like Insta have access to location when GPS is turned on, which is a massive data set lacking from wifi only devices like tablets. Also, as far as I'm aware, the Insta app can track you across the internet, even outside of the app, but Apple devices now give you the option to opt out, which is another disincentive for Meta to invest in iOS and iPadOS.

[@danfg7215]

I think the expectation of a calculator app being amazing by Steve Jobs’ standards mixed with the embarrassment of still not having one to this day adds up to it being some kind of taboo inside Apple that can get you fired by merely bringing up the subject.

[@andykphoto]

I think the key issue is that they don’t really care about the visual creators, and the improvement would have an outsized positive effect for you know, photographers and other visual creators. Not reels, not stories, not other monetized things…

[@tumbke]

Its ironic since the app started out to cater to photographers

[@Jesse78]

@@tumbke yeah TikTok has ruined like every big platform to a certain extent

[@chrisjfox8715]

Too many people have this mentality that "we want this feature therefore it must exist" hence fail to realize that any feature that does no serve to optimize profit means nothing to them. They can bitch all they want, but when their resulting data and market testing matches their forecasts about these things then they couldn't care less what you think. It's like how so many people complain about mainstream films yet those are the films reliably making hundreds of millions of dollars without fail.

[@VhsssTv]

A calculator cam would be cool for iPad. Scans & solves all maths problems Also a hand writing section that solves all written on screen maths would be cool

[@ShivamSingh-it7hc]

Woww, great concept

[@_Swag_]

@@ShivamSingh-it7hc already done by google lens

[@Lussimio]

microsoft math solver

[@zacharylabbe8533]

Photomath does this and it’s incredibly impressive, all that for free. I use it to scan my handwritten algebra formulas and it never missed any character.

[@william_SMMA]

@@zacharylabbe8533 tech is amazing But tech is also incredibly hard, hence a lot of us have to observe and appreciate from afar Unlike art that's amazing, not as revolutionary but literally anyone can participate and even make great pieces

[@HandsomeBeanz]

Been using an iPad in my daily work flow since 2012, still can't comprehend how there is not a native calculator app. I'm reminded of this every time I have to pull out my phone to use its calculator while working on my iPad pro. I understand that Apple likes to wait to perfect certain services, but a TRILLION dollar company has NO excuse for this, don't care how insignificant it may seem.

[@zues121510]

Is there not a third party app you could use?

[@mrlightwriter]

@@zues121510 There are several, but that doesn't answer why Apple doesn't design their own...

[@pzvu]

​@@zues121510a lotta them have ads and are just a very annoying experience for something that should just be built into any device

[@lilmurloc]

because they still want you to TOUCH your iphone, they ffeel like that would mean you would touch ur phone less, which is uunderstandable cuz they then think that would mean iphone sales would go down cuz your using your iphone less, and i get it itss a for profit company not a charity but still... its sucha stupid app and basic function i dont wanna pull out my phone just to use a calculator its like another step i have to do in order to calculate something real quick... =(

[@Hamyhamster24]

the fact that ipad doesnt have instagram, whatsapp apps...boggles my mind.

[@Raja995mh33]

No WhatsApp on the iPad in my opinion is a million times more annoying than no Instagram... I just goddamn HATE the absolutely terrible web version.

[@MStrong95]

The Instagram app on android tablets looks far better than the strange black borders iPhone scaled up iPhone app mess...I mean the iPhone app on iPad definitely works but it's not exactly what I'd call ideal when it is compared to how android works for phone and tablet screen sizes...sometimes I just don't understand why certain decisions are made at apple for how products are going to work as is the case for ios apps for different devices and that's not even mentioning that some ios apps still can't be side loaded to the m1 mac desktop and laptops (yes I know it's not going to be a good time using only keyboard and mouse) but it should be possible for all apps to at least open after a disclaimer that not having touch input might make some apps not work.

[@nitesh-maharaj]

This has nothing to do with Apple. The developer has full control of how the app is rendered on each platform. It takes a little bit of work to make your app work correctly on both iPhone and iPad. Also, we should remember that IG was exclusive to iPhone for like 2 years before it was available on Android, so it's even more strange that these guys didn't put in a bit of effort to fix up the iPad version of the app. Admittedly the tooling has gotten much better in recent years, so I have no idea what sort of legacy they have in their code base.

[@wanderingfool6312]

Apple isn’t inhibiting Instagram’s app on the iPad. I’m not sure about the rest of what you said? Are you saying Android apps are better optimised for tablets generally, I’m sure it’s not that, is it?

[@priyanshsiingh]

Just a thought: Instagram, the company, i feel like want their product to be always with you at all times. If they provided us with an good ipad experience it will motivate a lot of people who have iphones and dont want to carry a social media on their pockets an alternative which would be not good for the company as they cant grab your attention whenever. I feel as though this is also why instagram the website is really bad in terms of not allowing to upload content and such.

[@Its_Bek]

Yes Apple is the developer of Instagram & it’s their decision to make a native iPad app /s

[@chrisjfox8715]

@@Its_Bek ............

[@Hovscorpion12]

How do you have “a lot of requests”, but don’t have a big enough group. Doesn’t make any sense

[@FloresdorfGaming]

Tip: when using chrome, just tap "add to homescreen", and then you have the website on your ipad. I am not saying that this is a definitive solution, just meanwhile.

[@TonyTyga90]

You can do this on Safari also

[@jamiewilliams3179]

Still not the same.

[@Raja995mh33]

You don't need stupid Chrome for that.

[@ahmetcanacun]

What is it… 2011 or something?

[@LoreLibrary-Official]

Just use safari

[@motownazn]

I appreciate his responses because of the amount of Resources that would be dedicated to the iPad app. He knows that if they make an iPad app it will definitely need to be used and therefore will need to be supported. The amount of support they have to dedicate to it is more than they’re prepared to take on at the moment.

[@Pixel2323Steal]

I'm more upset abt the calculator not being available on the iPad because I see that it is aimed for creativity and kinda like an all in one. I have the iPad 8th gen and the fact that it comes with no proper calculator is a nuisance to use for any math assignments.

[@summerslider2487]

Doesn’t iOS have 3rd party calculators?

[@flarierza33]

ye you can always download the calculator app, not restricted to just using what comes default on the device

[@Pixel2323Steal]

@@summerslider2487 They might be riddled with ads or have a clunky design and I have yet to find one visually attractive that is free without ads.

[@NovaAquarius]

I got an app named "Calculator #1 for ipad". So far haven't come across ad

[@chidorirasenganz]

you can just use spotlight instead for calculations

[@GooblyWoobly69]

Facebook/Instagram/Meta not having people to put on this rather simple project (when compared to everything else they do) for the most popular tablet is funny to think about

[@user-ng3le6nm7p]

Instagram actually made with React Native, I think, and it means that they have about 80% of their codebase same on Web, Android and IOS. So there's no really "Not enough people" issue, they just don't want. Maybe its because most of the people just using the iPhone app anyway.

[@mattthompson5663]

I love how you addressed my two pet-peeve omissions from the iPad ecosystem: an Apple calculator, and the Instagram app. And I agree, both equally hard to justify. I wonder if Instagram realizes how many potential users have chosen NOT to embrace Instagram specifically because of this omission, which could skew their measurements & data. I for one, am still waiting on the iPad app in order to embrace Instagram, and I’m guessing I’m not alone in that.

[@elija0349]

If I had to pull an explanation out of my ass, I’d say that people would inevitably use an iPad app over the phone app, mostly because of the screen size, and then use Instagram less frequently when they only have their phones on them because that app delivers a worse experience, decreasing overall screen time and revenue.

[@akhilbabu_]

That is a very interesting take

[@bruhshkebabs]

Yeah, but not everybody has an iPad. Most people just have an iPhone and that’s it.

[@MindinViolet]

That was my impression as well. They want people using Instagram on their phones, as it is more addictive that way. It is similar to how social media corporations always want you to use their apps and not their websites.

[@vsobolev]

Just imagine how cool it will be to host Instagram Live on huge iPad with all panels for comments, donations, likes, guests, etc.

[@unlockmypassword]

If I knew they were going to play that iPad calculator clip again I would've taken my blood pressure meds in advance.

[@dankbrad]

I just got my first iPad this week. I couldn’t believe instagram not having an optimized app. Just another reason why instagram is on its way out

[@itsdtxjd]

But the Samsung tablet has a full screen instagram app so why not the ipad

[@nigelsmith721]

Is it out yet?

[@DylanM15]

Honestly I believe they added uploading from the web to reduce the need for an iPad specific app. As it’s probably easier to manage a web page feature than a new screen format. To add to that point once they added upload from a web browser, I did start to significantly increase my use of Instagram on a web browser on iPad and my Macbook too.

[@bmljenny]

Agree. And honestly, based on how bad my experience with their "dedicated" Facebook app is, I'd rather just use a webapp.

[@Soushi123]

Meta, who owns Facebook and Instagram, whose net worth is $527 BILLION. You think a company This size don’t have competent people to quickly make Instagram for the the iPad? So naive, they are LAZY.

[@dan-956]

Hey, iOS Developer here, I've been working in the industry for a while now. Most mobile teams are really small actually and creating an iPad app is a bit more than simply porting an iPhone app to a bigger screen. It requires now that every feature be designed for two differently sized screens/platforms, as well as implemented for two different screen sizes which at least doubles the amount of work required per feature, but in reality it's more complex than that, bugs can arise per platform because iPadOS and iOS are different OS's now with a common base, so bugs are an issue, not to mention iPadOS is very different to iOS, it can run multiple instances of the same app for example, it can connect to a keyboard and mouse which are now supported as well, or resize an app to uncommon window sizes, like a rectangle which is also something that needs to be addressed. It's really a lot of work to support iPads and most companies don't do it besides the out of the box solution Apple offers which is running the iOS version on the iPad.

[@zachowzach]

KZbin already picture in picture on the iPhone but apple cant make a floating calculator widget. It could be a 1 to 1 copy of the iPhone app floating on the screen to not make it jarring and everyone would just accept it as a usable default.

[@Taby_G]

they could, but I guess they think floating widgets doesn't go with their esthetics.

[@Roshan_420]

@@Taby_G you can have floating windows on iPad w multitasking

[@darknightmike10yearsago]

KZbin Premium*

[@luispina1432]

I’ve having the same issue. One thing that helped: adding to home screen the web version of Instagram. Works miles better

[@sad_face_emoji_2472]

Yep! U can even get rid of the web browser search bar and stuff

[@govindnair6020]

You guys are fantastic 💯 I hope they make a proper Instagram app soon after watching this and having a podcast with you guys in near future. 😜

[@imani828]

This was amazing!

[@jashirl]

I am so frustrated with no proper app for instagram, still in 2022, like how difficult would it be?

[@ErwinKok]

It is also not difficult, but they are clearly unwilling to do so.

[@habibokanla4888]

It's difficult to make. Almost like making a new app. A lot of features would have to be re-thought and redesigned for the new form factor. And any new features would take longer to design when having to consider a new surface.

[@ErwinKok]

@@habibokanla4888 nonsense. I was developer for many years. This is the only right answer if you don't feel for doing it. They have already an iPhone version so nothing like developing a new app just scaling that is it. Maybe a few little corrections for the layout but that is all. It is not that iPhone's are so low resolution devices. Most apps and web apps work with bootstrap kind of interfaces so it can scale per device. If it is possibly on Android with more variations in resolutions it can be done on a iPad.

[@kylebelle246]

@@ErwinKok yup. And the thing is the backend is already done so even if they want to make a completely separate app all they literally have to do is create a tablet specific interface which honestly is not hard and for a company this big should be easy to get a nice ui/design. I know for a fact i could build something like that in a month (and thats being generous) as long as im given a design to work with

[@kylebelle246]

And i would do this using react native so both android and ios in one go

[@IlanDavid]

It's the end of 2023 and still no Instagram iPad app.

[@shihaabb]

Already mid 2024 and still no instagram iPad app 💀

[@toshineon]

I remember what a pain Instagram was when I worked for an info display company. A lot of our customers wanted an Instagram feed on these displays, and while the app worked fine on our displays, needing a phone just to be able to upload some images to a test account made things more annoying than they had to be.

[@JishnuChowdhury]

I remember back in 2015 or 16 when there was a jailbreak mod to scale up iPad apps. It had issues but it was honestly quite nice, which is impressive considering it was a mod to scale up EVERY non-supported app.

[@danirik]

I am an iPad user for years but I am still boggled how Meta (ex-Facebook) does not want to make a legit app for apple tablets.

[@BRBallin1]

They must’ve seen that the cost to build and maintain an iPad app for Instagram is not worth the benefit.

[@mrbobo86]

Because it works fine on a browser web app so there's no need. The people that complain are just too stupid to figure it out

[@dmsalomon]

As I software engineering myself (admitted I don't do client side) I can say that these projects are always more difficult than you think. And it's not just a matter of money, the amount of product development and engineering resource allocation for such a task is non trivial I assure you. And when you don't really see the need it's hard to get motivated to do that

[@bobsteven2363]

web apps exist and they already have a web app that works on ipad. The webapp is done. All that needs to be done is to be made into an app in the apple store. That way people will know that the web app exists to begin with. You can launch it by saving Instagram's website to your iPads desktop. taking a preexisting web app and making it a downloadable app is a task that can be done in day by a solo programmer because web apps are easily turned into apps. You don't even need to convert any code

[@hamzaq9631]

the subscription pitch was so effective, i subscribed

[@RogueAfterlife]

Spotlight search is my calculator app of choice; it even has a built in keyboard shortcut cmd+space.

[@meowmaro]

1:14 is a completely valid arguement, I refrain from using the instagram app on my iPad Pro because it's laughable how poorly it's made. I'd rather just whip out my phone and use it on there instead

[@TJMartinek]

I call bullshit on saying there's not enough people. I've wanted this for years.

[@gracebecreations]

and here we are 2023 and still no APP for Instagram ... this is ridiculous!

[@BaconBePropane]

Honestly, I’d like to see a calculator widget on the iPad. It’s small enough for some people to use, and can be enlarged. I would like to see an iPad Professional like app for Instagram.

[@sirwaynekitt]

I personally would love Instagram for iPad. I like keeping my phone as simple and task focused as possible, and then use my iPad as a media creation/consumption device. But since Instagram is so bad on the iPad app I just resort to desktop, which still isn't the optimal experience.

[@M.Touray]

Add to home screen from safari and it works like the app

[@kaslife001]

You can never know how much I appreciate you bro and I am so proud for you of your accomplishments. Keep doing the great work you're doing. I also post under the name Doris Gadson that's my mom lol. May she rest in peace. Love you bro.

[@piereligiodisante]

If I recall correctly, Instagram used to have a tablet layout on android, and maybe it even still does. It's not hard to make a tablet UI, actually if you program autolayout WELL, the layout will adapt to ANY screen size and density. It really surprises me to see that I do that stuff on my stuff with no problems, and huge companies like that won't even try. What's fun in fact, is that Instagram layout even broke apart for a ton of time, on any "ultra tall" phone, particularly in stories. After a year like that seems that they managed to fix that at least, they just add borders to make 9/16 ratio. On iOS development you have to develop a UI for every single display you're supporting, but actually, if I recall correctly you can base those off the same UI and eventually make the few adjustments that may be needed. If it's needed to redo all the UI for every screen on iOS, then they were badly coded in the first place

[@chrisjfox8715]

Because they don't want to for business reasons

[@DoctorVadarWho]

There is still no Apple weather app for the iPad

[@prcvl]

Calculator too

[@unnamedsir882]

Touching on the lack of a calculator on the iPad, there is a calculator app for Mac that is no different from the iOS version. If they didn't do something "distinctly great" for the Mac why wouldn't they do the same for iPad?

[@streets28mm]

Thank you for asking the question, I gave up my iPad pro to get the Samsung galaxy tab 7+ for that reason and it is working great!

[@grewwyy]

My friend asked me why I don’t use my iPhone much. I think the answer to that is iPad is a really versatile device especially with the apple ecosystem. So having an optimize app would solidify my usage for that particular app.

[@CinceTheDay]

The calculator app thing goes back to Steve Jobs. Especially funny in context of this video, the reason there isn't one (calc app) from the start is that the developer responsible back then just scaled the iPhone app. When Steve Jobs saw this he basically went full tantrum making clear that just scaling an app is not the experience he wants to sell with the iPad. However, the dev didn't just "take" job's "input" to live another day... no, kind like the guy who messed with Christian Bale's light on set of T4 he was willing to go the whole 9 yards with jobs on the topic doubled down on his position that when it comes to a calculator app the job is completed just fine by scaling. So the thing went thermonuclear between the two of them. When the debris finally settled no developer at apple had the guts to present jobs another calc app. and then: he died. now they're paying him tribute by not making one. this is basically the only decent move this company has currently left in the game if you ask me.

[@DanteMetaphor]

Hear me out, instagram on ipad would be a way better experience on ipad. probably the same reason instagram on browser has always felt so bad. They deliberately make the experience on phones better so we can be accustomed to using it all the time. if it was great on web and ipad, we would probably wait to use it when we get home or when we sit down at a nice screen (same thing that happens when i see a nice video on youtube) I think thats the same reason apple wont make a calculator app on ipad, they want you to keep pulling out your phone even if you are on your ipad, attachment.

[@angelabassett7984]

Interesting convo. I don’t use instagram that much and think I would use it tons more on my iPad. It feels too small on my phone. But the biggest reason I don’t use it is I get annoyed by the time I hit the 3rd or 4th ad and that’s usually about 9 posts in, so I don’t stay on instagram long.

[@kylekatsumi]

My interpretation of Adam Mosseri's explanation is: The projected ROI that would come from an iPad-specific app is less than the projected ROI of whatever it is we're planning to build for all iOS and Android phone users. I would assume that the vast majority of iPad users (which is not a huge group), who would use IG on an iPad (an even smaller group), already use IG on an iPhone. So anything they create for iPad isn't going to significantly expand their user engagement or reach, it's just going to cannibalize engagement for users they have already reached on iOS - which means no net gain for ad revenue. However, if they instead invest in completely new revenue-generating features for IG on iOS (and Android), they can expand their reach and increase engagement for a much larger group than the subset that would use IG on an iPad. Cynically speaking, unfortunately for us users, as cool as an iPad app would be, they're less interested in "cool for users" as they are in "cool for users in such a way that our customers want to pay us more for ads". So if you could convince IG to make an iPad-specific feature that is so cool that people run out to get iPads to use IG over their competitors, then maybe they'd make that app...

[@oisinq]

Yep, these companies only care about getting new users and getting more of the attention of existing users. An iPad app doesn’t really increase either of those

[@BryanHaywood]

Live text working with a iPad calculator app, where it could read the text off a white board and auto solve would be great for students and businesses… just sayin’

[@angelicaamora11]

I can’t get over how aesthetically handsome the Audio Technica M50x headphones are. Sound wise is amazing too for audio monitoring ❤️‍🔥

[@paternyao]

The horizontal thing is gonna get you subscriptions. Keep adding that to videos!

[@ChrisDavisStudio]

as a photographer, it drives me nuts that there is still no iPad app, one day maybe

[@Travisharger]

I would totally use Instagram on my iPad all the time.

[@cutieapplepie]

The Intro and Outro music are so damn good. Can yall release a full version

[@peat381low8]

It’s so funny to hear Craig answer the question why there is no calculator app on iPad.

[@impinatech]

I’ve been having the same issue. One thing that helped: adding to home screen the web version of Instagram. Works miles better

[@HarrisonSCook]

The actual app on iPad is bad, but I’ve bookmarked the webpage to my home screen and it has its own app icon just as if it were a native app. It’s still not as polished as a native app would be, but it’s a usable workaround.

[@mrbobo86]

It's the same on Android. You can add the website to the homescreen as a web app and it basically looks perfect so there is no need for a tablet app

[@HarrisonSCook]

@@mrbobo86 I disagree; I would love a dedicated app. I think it would make for a much smoother/integrated experience. But I agree with your larger point, the website is like 80% there.

[@nosauce5321]

As a developer and designer ... this is still a silly problem. Just make it Instagram.

[@jygg4lag]

for the calculator, they now introduced quick notes that doesnt take up all the screen but jus the bottom right corner. They could just do the same thing but with a calculator.

[@jesusantezana5714]

That reminds me to update my 1 star on instagram for not having an iPad version.

[@Tential1]

How can you not have an Instagram app on a high res iPad.... This is just dumb.

[@ztop5469]

It might be they don't want to contribute to the Apple ecosystem more then they have to. There maybe diminishing/negative returns if a larger percentage of user base switches to Apple products. Because privacy restrictions can affect ad revenue.

[@studybytes5505]

Apple could implement a calculator that is integrated in the iPad keyboard, allowing for calculations from anywhere, would work super well for accountants who like to use the Excel app on iPad.

[@angelinegiselle]

i just want back the experience i had in 2010 when my feed was truly chronological showing posts from everyone i followed, there were no ads, no animations or videos, and no sound (animations make me feel ill and music preference is so subjective).

[@CraigPearce95]

For something to be approved, the return on investment would need to be greater than both the initial cost and the maintenance of the app. One more version means one more to maintain and consider when trying to add features across the board. So I would guess the protections if/when it was explored meant it was not worth the cost to implement and maintain. Build it and they will come doesn't really sell well to investors and board members.

[@chemicalfrankie1030]

Still, it does make sense from a biz perspective. 80m iPad users in the US alone. KPI for social media companies is time spent on the app. It is clear FB does not want to push consumers to apple. It is a strategic decision not to develop for iPad, not a biz one

[@pavitrajain0503]

I use Instagram on my android tablet and it works fine just like a phone, no sizing issues

[@markjmacrae]

More importantly : there’s still no calculator for iPad… lol, now I’m half way through and love that this got dealt with!

[@jimmycapp29]

As a photographer, I find Instagram to be a terrible platform for posting photos. The inability to tap and frame the photo for horizontal view is pretty lame in 2022.

[@TheGelatinousSnake]

“It’s not a big enough group” because you don’t have one! 😂

[@parshakamarsh]

Maybe Meta just don't want to help Apple make the experience better, after all they have just taken most of their ad revenue away 🤔

[@guysxtn]

i’m currently a software engineer working on a big company’s mobile app. you’d be surprised how messy the development process is today especially considering all the different stakeholders involved in the decision. there have been minuscule issues that i could’ve decided in 3 minutes that have blown up into things that take 3 months to figure out. i do believe it makes for a better product because we truly think about EVERYTHING but it’s absolutely a massive overhead. that’s probably what his comment about being ‘lean’ was about

[@PhilKnall]

This is always the first thought on my mind when people say android apps aren't optimized for tablets. I wish the tablet app on both OSes had columns.

[@davidfc7136]

Would definitely use Instagram on my iPad if it wasn't so shit.

[@aswin_sudarsan]

We need whatsapp too

[@jeffmcmorris]

Apple also has no weather app on the iPad which is an even more glaring omission than no calculator and they bought dark sky.

[@rishabhmediratta6200]

4:02 seems like the points for the new display apple is rumored to launch today (March 8th, Apple Spring Event 2022)

[@Tential1]

I use my android tablet a lot and KZbin can do an app for that... Yet these people can't do an Instagram app for IPad..... Pretty stupid misstep if you ask me.

[@maximedelille1287]

Simple answer: Instagram pics are stored under a 1080x1080 resolution… so those pics wouldn’t look too good on a high-res iPad screen!

[@deepakbisht4957]

Well Instagram pictures supports many aspect ratios not just 1:1

[@aminmohammadids]

That's not enough reason for not getting the whole app 🤦‍♂️

[@maximedelille1287]

@@deepakbisht4957 Indeed but photo width is still limited to 1080px. Aspect ratio must be between 1.91:1 and 4:5, so photo height will be between 566px and 1350px. Compare that to the regular iPad 2048x1536 Retina Display…

[@srinivasf5]

@mkbhd, @waveform I love the fact that you are in a position to raise these things with tech companies. One other item for Apple, wireless car play? I can't understand why there is no product for both android play and Apple car play.

[@johnmorgan8127]

It comes down to this, no company wants to pay developers twice for duplicating their work on a separate device for the same platform. When you develop apps for apple mobile products, you have to develop 2 separate apps for both iPhone and iPad vs Android and Windows, where you only have to develop 1 app and add some tweaks depending on if it's a phone, tablet, or computer.

[@Trippy_Space_Bunny]

In mobile format I only use my iPad mini for Instagram, not my phone, I use my laptop to add things to my Instagram and I don’t direct message people through Instagram. Something I’d like to know though is if we’re ever going to be able to use the community tab in the KZbin app instead of having to go to a browser.

[@tuerry]

Apple is waiting for someone else to come out with a revolutionary calculator app so they can tweak it and put it in ipados

[@GRMJXX]

There is an Tablet IG app. Ive used it on my tablet and it works fine

[@DoctorVadarWho]

What is the app

[@GRMJXX]

@@DoctorVadarWho wdym? are you lost? its pretty easy to understand...smh

[@bigfudge3223]

@@GRMJXX what do you mean you have a tablet IG app? it doesn’t exist.

[@GRMJXX]

@@bigfudge3223 tablet/android....so yes there is one

[@goaway9790]

I always wondered this.

[@Mangolite]

If Apple would make a calculator for the iPad, I believe they would utilize a whiteboard addition for hands-on long formula calculation.

"If I can't have a Rolls-Royce, I'm going to walk to work every day," says the calculator.

[@yash_693]

You copied this, right? It's the top comment.

[@KING-ld6fq]

Bro apple is rubbish 🗑 😒 😑 😐 🙄 😕

[@ClaxtonBay123]

This doesn't have anything to do with Apple. What are you even saying

[@matt.m]

why apple? facebook/instagram is the problem here

[@KING-ld6fq]

@@matt.m I know I just wanted to comment something because I was so early

[@evilryu05]

Love the "Hot Ones" t-shirt!

[@dominikbutkovic]

what if they just make it so it goes on slider over, like 3rd open app? so it can be like on iphone, nicely scaled and good. I would love to have it like that if they cant make it full screen. if u get what i mean.

[@B07I]

Good to know

[@umut.afacan]

This question has pretty straight answer actually, that's all about cost-profit. But if I list them down: 1- profit-wise: on contrary to widely knowledge, iPad user ratio is generally around %1 or ever lesser. And also obviously a single iPad usage time is lower than iPhone due to mobility. These make lesser valuable to invest. 2- cost-wise: to build an iPad application, you have two option - first is to support existing iOS application to iPad, which results of course more need for development resources, bigger code base, harder maintaining, more error etc. But the worst is that, once you gave iPad support, you should give always according to AppStore rules. Too many apps and companies suffered from this, they supported iPad and after they see no profit, they couldn't go back, at best case they made minimal efforts for iPad support barely pass to AppStore submission reviews, but still these applications gives negative impact to users, even worse than current state of Instagram. But so many other features that Instagram has, can be turned-off by single click and cleanup from code base roughly in a day to a week. (according to feature, of course could be more) - second way is that building new application which obviously cost more in terms of development resource and others, also you need to sync up codes & features with existing iOS application which is technical extra effort and overhead, also you need to gain installs again, grind up in App Store rankings etc. Either way, It costs much, and future of iPad is bit unknown, there is more chance to game-changer moves you need to adapt. so as a result, should a company spend almost %10-20 percent more and have a risk to affect current business for just %1 more profit (including credibility)? Two days after watching these video, people won't care this even while they are scrolling on Instagram on their iPhone.

[@pablizius]

My guess is that there would be a potential pic/vid resolution issue to optimize for larger and higher res/framerate screens.

[@jaykparikh37]

I think the truth is that Instagram compresses the fuck out of the images so much that if you saw them on an iPad it would look like shit

[@pinkbubblegumprincess]

as someone who has a 12.9 inch ipad pro i can say for sure an instagram ipad app would be nice. it’s just weird that they don’t have an ipad app.