This is not a drill: Instagram is finally available as an iPad app

Do not adjust your set. This is not a drill. After 15 years of both Instagram and the iPad, both of which first launched in 2010, there is finally an Instagram app for the iPad. The firm, which is owned by Meta, has never before offered an official app for Instagram on Apple's tablet until today, previously forcing fans to use the iPhone app.

But this usually displayed poorly, either in an amusingly tiny way on the larger screen, or zoomed in comically and unoptimised. That's now, at long last for Instagram fans, a thing of the past.

"Today, we're excited to announce we're bringing Instagram to iPad," Instagram said in a blog post.

"People have asked for this for a while, and we've taken the time to design an experience that optimizes your favorite parts of Instagram for a bigger screen."

It means if you have always thought you could scroll just that bit more comfortably (or uncomfortably) on Reels if you could do it on your big ol' iPad screen rather than hunched over your phone, now you can.

In fact, Instagram has decided to default the iPad version of its app to open in Reels mode (see below image) rather than the scrollable photo feed you get served with on iPhone and Android.

"With Instagram for iPad, we've redesigned the experience to reflect how people use bigger screens today - for lean back entertainment. Now, when you open the app, you'll drop into Reels, so you can get the entertaining content you love on a bigger screen."

A skeptic's view of this would be that by serving you scrollable video clips, Instagram is trying to keep you hypnotised to that large iPad screen for as long as possible. But who said I was a skeptic?

The home screen still displays Stories at the top, and messaging is accessible still in the place you'd expect it to be from the mobile app. But new for the iPad is a Following tab, which lets you select three different ways to see posts and reels, only from accounts you follow, as described by Instagram:

• All: Recommended posts and reels from accounts you follow
• Friends: Recommended post and reels from accounts you follow, that follow you back
• Latest: Chronological posts and reels from accounts you follow, with the most recent posts
• appearing first.

As well as what appear to be iPad-exclusive settings, the new app also takes advantage of layout changes thanks to the bigger screen, whether you have an iPad mini or massive iPad Pro.

"When designing Instagram for iPad, we wanted to take advantage of the bigger screen to give people more features with fewer taps, while keeping it simple," Instagram said. "We've made it easier to catch up on your messages and notifications with layouts that display both tabs."

If you want to dig in and get 'gramming on your iPad, the official Instagram app for iPad is available now globally on all iPad models running iPadOS 15.1 and later. Just like all other versions of the app, it's free.