Not Enough iPad Users To Warrant Creating A Separate Instagram App

Since its inception, Instagram has lacked a dedicated iPad app, and it doesn’t appear that will change anytime soon. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri attempted to justify the decision again this weekend on Twitter, but with a rather lame justification.

There’s No Chance For Instagram On The iPad

This is far from the first time Instagram has been chastised for failing to create a standalone Instagram app. Mosseri noted last year that an Instagram app “would be good to do,” but that Instagram “has a lot to do and only so many people,” thus it “hasn’t made the cut.” In the year 2020, he provided a roughly identical response.

Mosseri has chosen a slightly different approach to this criticism this time around. In response to Marques Brownlee’s tweet criticizing the lack of an iPad app, Mosseri stated that Instagram receives this request “a lot,” while also claiming that there aren’t enough iPad users to justify the effort.

Mosseri wrote:

Yup, we get this one a lot. It’s still just not a big enough group of people to be a priority. Hoping to get to it at some point, but right now we’re very heads down on other things.

In a follow up tweet, Mosseri added:

I call these “finally features.” Things like supporting dark mode, scheduled posts, an iPad app, deleting one photo from a carousel, etc.

And in a third tweet, Mosseri explained:

1. 1. Each surface adds overhead; we support iOS, Android, www, and IG Lite, and Android is the largest
   2. TikTok and YouTube are behemoths, people share more in messages than they do to Stories or Feed, so we need to adapt
   3. We are leaner than you think

Digging In More Details

Take Mosseri’s response almost contradicts itself He tries to argue that there aren’t enough iPad users to warrant a dedicated Instagram app while yet claiming that Instagram receives a lot of requests for one. Mosseri seemed to be aware of the inconsistency of his message, as evidenced by the fact that he followed up with two further tweets that provided more information.

Just a side note: according to analyst estimates, Apple will ship over 51 million iPads in 2021. I’m sure a significant number of iPad users have an Instagram account and would appreciate a way to utilize the social network without having to use a web app.

References:

1. 1. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/instagram-ipad-app-adam-mosseri-160717090.html
   2. https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/1244552/Instagram-iPad-App-Why-Not
   3. https://neotizen.news/no-instagram-still-wont-build-an-ipad-app/