Ah… Instagram. Consumers have been asking for a tablet layout for Instagram since, well, ever, as the app looks simply horrible on large displays. You’ll be glad to know it’s here, but there’s a catch, unfortunately.
Instagram finally has a tablet layout, but there’s a catch, unfortunately
This layout is now available on the Galaxy Z Fold series only. Needless to say, that’s quite disappointing, as there are plenty of tablets and foldables out there that would love to take advantage of it.
This change is rolling out to Galaxy Z Fold users, and has been doing so for a while, it seems. This new layout leaves Stories at the top of the display, while it expands the feed itself.
It does, however, make sure that Reels stick to a fixed aspect ratio, which is welcomed. You will also find a side-mounted navigation rail, containing home, search, create, and all the other navbar options you’d expect.
9to5Google says that the rollout is quite slow, which is why many Galaxy Z Fold series users may not yet have access to the UI. The source does note that the layout feels much better on the Fold than the regular does. That’s not hard to believe, as the regular Instagram layout works horribly on large-screen devices.
Let’s hope other devices will start getting this layout soon
The bad news is that basically every other non-Galaxy Z Fold device is left out of the equation. This does give us hope, however. This is probably just a test for the new layout, and chances are that the availability will expand at some point.
It would be great if Meta would speed things up, though. Instagram is an app that is mentioned quite frequently in a negative context when it comes to large-screen devices. It’s about time Meta changes things around.
2023-08-08 15:06:20