Instagram is one of the most popular social media apps in the world, yet the company doesn’t have a dedicated app for the iPad. And now, Instagram head Adam Mosseri has come up with a weak excuse for the lack of a dedicated app, saying there aren’t enough users to justify the work.
Popular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee started the conversation on Twitter, calling out Instagram for not releasing an iPad app. This spurred Mosseri to defend the company’s decision by stating that “it’s still just not a big enough group of people to be a priority,” quashing any hopes of a native iPad app. The exec tried to soften the blow by saying that the firm hopes to “get to it at some point.” But we’re not convinced.
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.
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) February 27, 2022
Brownlee wasn’t sold on the reasoning either and pressed on by noting that “maybe that group gets way bigger when an excellent app does exist.”
Mosseri tried to explain the lack of a native iPad app, citing that “each surface adds overhead.” He added that the team is too small to deal with all the work associated with the development.
Oh it does, for sure, but:
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— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) February 27, 2022
Our Take
Overall, the Instagram head’s replies appear disingenuous. On the one hand, he claims that not enough people are interested in a native iPad app. On the other hand, he mentions that Instagram gets this request a lot. According to a recent Canalys report, Apple shipped more than 19 million iPads in 2021 alone. Back in December, Instagram was reported to have 2 billion monthly active users. Even if a small percentage of those users own iPads, the number will be quite significant. Surely, Instagram users would prefer the convenience of a native app over a web app, especially when most social media platforms have their own iPad apps.
