After more than a decade of waiting, Instagram finally rolled out a native iPad app last fall, but the initial version diverged sharply from its phone counterpart. The launch placed Reels at the forefront, pushing Stories to a top bar and relegating the traditional feed to a secondary tab—a layout many users found unintuitive, for daily scrolling.

Feedback prompted a quick redesign, and the latest update aligns the iPad experience with the iPhone’s familiar three‑tab structure. Home now mirrors the phone feed, Reels occupies its own tab, and the confusing ‘Following’ shortcut has been removed. Users gain the same navigation they expect, simply scaled up for the tablet’s bigger display, making multitasking smoother on iOS for power.

By abandoning the Reels‑first experiment, Instagram delivers a more predictable workflow while still taking advantage of the iPad’s screen real estate. Creators can browse feeds, post stories, and reply to messages without the earlier navigation quirks. This alignment also simplifies app development, ensuring feature parity across devices and reducing fragmentation for the platform.