What’s one so-called “tech hot takes” held by Instagram’s top boss, Adam Mosseri? “Android’s now better than iOS.” Mosseri’s comment was made on Threads this weekend in response to a question posed by MKBHD, and it naturally has us wondering about how his personal preferences influence Instagram and Threads product roadmaps.
Mosseri’s comment comes as Instagram and Meta continue to push the launch of Threads, its new short-form microblogging social network akin to Twitter in many ways. Threads is currently only accessible on the iPhone – with a very basic web app – is also available.
Would Instagram have an iPad app if Mosseri himself preferred iPhone over Android? Realistically, Mosseri probably uses iPhone and Android devices on a regular basis and his personal preferences likely don’t set the roadmap for Instagram, and now Threads. Still, chances are if Mosseri himself specifically wanted an Instagram app for iPad and was advocating for such, it would certainly be something higher up on the roadmap.
Back in September 2021, Mosseri addressed the lack of Instagram on iPad and explained that while a dedicated app “would be nice to do,” Instagram has “a lot to do and only so many people, so it hasn’t made the cut.”
A few months later, Mosseri once again addressed the lack of Instagram on iPad.
“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,” Mosseri explained. “I call these ‘finally features.’ Things like supporting dark mode, scheduled posts, an iPad app, deleting one photo from a carousel, etc.”
The lack of access to Threads and Instagram apps on platforms other than iPhone is frustrating, especially for those of us hoping to use Threads as a replacement for Twitter. So far, Mosseri hasn’t announced any plans to bring Threads (or Instagram) to the Mac or iPad.
Perhaps most frustratingly of all: Instagram specifically opts out of allowing Mac users to run the iPhone version of Instagram and Threads on their Apple Silicon computers. This is one of the best features of Apple Silicon, and the option is enabled by default. This means Instagram went out of its way to opt out.
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