It’s pretty damn annoying that the Instagram app does not rotate to landscape mode when you’re viewing it on your iPad, because holding it in portrait mode for long just isn’t comfortable. The official app does not support landscape mode (or rotating) on iPad, but luckily, there’s a trick out there that you can use to do it anyway. If you want to know how to rotate your Instagram feed on an iPad (or iPad Pro), check out our easy and quick guide below.
Why is there no rotating (landscape) functionality in the official Instagram app for iPad?
The short answer is that there actually isn’t an official Instagram app for Apple’s tablets. Granted, you can find Instagram in the App Store just fine, but that’s actually the iPhone version that is compatible with the iPad, but is anything but optimized for it. That app is meant to be viewed on smaller phone screens – screens that you usually only hold vertically. Hence, there is no official support for a landscape (rotated horizontally) mode on Instagram.
Not a lot of iPhone users complain about this – after all, landscape mode on an iPhone wouldn’t exactly give you a pleasant viewing experience because of the small screen.
However, for iPad users, landscape mode would offer a much better experience.
Especially for users who have the bigger iPad models (up to 12.9 inches with the Pro models), holding your tablet in portrait mode for so long just isn’t comfortable at all.
If you do want to rotate Instagram on your iPad, despite the struggles of the official app, definitely keep reading. There’s an easy trick that will make this happen and improve your Insta experience altogether!
How can you rotate Instagram on your iPad?
The trick is that we won’t actually be using the regular app for Instagram on your tablet, since that one is, for the lack of a better word, trash. Aside from the fact that you can’t switch over to landscape mode, it also isn’t full screen meaning you’ll get big annoying black bars on your iPad, and the photos on there usually aren’t as crisp either. Because they’re optimized for iPhones instead of tablets, they can’t make use of your beautiful retina iPad display and its full resolution.
However – there is absolutely a quick, easy and free way to be able to rotate Instagram on your iPad. We will be using the web application for Instagram on iPad to make sure it’s full screen and rotatable. We’ve actually already covered this in a separate article, which you can view below, but we’ll repeat the steps in this article too and include a comparison image as well.
The following guide works in 2021 and will work in the years beyond that, and has already been tested on iOS 13, iOS 14, and iOS 15. Make sure that your iPad is updated (or runs one of these operating systems) and you’re absolutely good to go!
Here are the steps you’ll need to follow to be able to rotate your Instagram in landscape mode:
- Open the default Safari web browser, visit instagram.com and log into your account
- Once you’re logged in, press the share button in Safari. You’ll find this on the right side of the URL bar. You’ll see an “Add to Home Screen” button, which you can click.
- You can choose a name for your shortcut, and the Instagram icon will then be placed on your iPad home screen. It looks exactly like the Instagram app, only better.
This is what the end result should look like on your iPad:
A comparison between portrait and landscape mode on iPad
Want to see this in action before you try it yourself? Of course! Check out our two comparison images below. The first one was taken in the regular portrait mode (vertical), while the second has been rotated (landscape). There’s plenty of more space and real estate, you can see suggestions in the right column and you have easy access to all of your settings, DM’s as well as stories at the top. This web app view is basically how Instagram looks on a computer, but it works wonderfully on your iPad as well. The screenshots below were taken on an iPad Pro (12.9 inches).
Summary
As you can see, being able to rotate your Instagram feed on your iPad, iPad Mini, iPad Air or iPad Pro is definitely useful. By using our simple guide to install the web version of Instagram, you can get a much better experience on your favorite social platform than the regular app provides, which hasn’t been updated at all for iPads.
