Gemini app coming for iPad, Instagram still missing
Google has a heart for iPad users and is adapting its AI client to Apple tablets. Despite rumors, there is still no sign of Instagram.
Gemini app and Instagram app: one likes the iPad, the other doesn't.
(Image: Google / Meta / Montage: Mac & i)
Good news for iPad users – and (still) bad news: Google has adapted its increasingly popular Gemini AI app for the tablet. Meanwhile, Meta is still making no moves to bring Instagram to the Apple tablet, despite fresh rumors.
Gemini uses the full screen
The new Gemini version has been available to download for a few days and bears the version number 1.2025.1770107. Google only writes about the update that "performance improvements and bug fixes" have been implemented. But in truth, there is more to the update. For example, the app finally no longer shows the small iPhone interface (which can be technically blown up if necessary), but is an iPad app optimized for full-screen operation. This means that the application has more space for outputting images or content from the web, for example. However, the app still has a little more free space in voice assistant mode ("Go Live with Gemini").
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Further innovations in the Gemini app relate to the iOS or iPadOS home screen, which now has its own widgets that can be added as an option. Finally, Google has also implemented Google Photos integration, which you can use to interact with your own media library. Home screen widgets and Google Photos integration are not only available on the iPad, but also in the iOS version of the app. Gemini can be used free of charge, but if you want more features, you need a subscription, which costs just under 20 euros per month.
Instagram: Rumors about iPad version – once again
So while Google has managed to adapt its Gemini app, which was only released for iOS in November, to the iPad virtually overnight, we still have to wait for Meta's Instagram for Apple tablets. There were rumors again last month that the time had finally come. But nothing has happened to date.
At the time, it was said that Instagram's parent company Meta was motivated by the possible end of TikTok in the USA (although this was repeatedly postponed) to finally create an iPad version of Instagram. TikTok has been available for Apple tablets for a long time. And so users can only continue to wait – or use Instagram in the browser or as a bloated iPhone version.
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