We’re less than a month away from the release of a new iteration of the Apple TV, packed with the kind of computing power once reserved for desktop computers, so it makes sense that it’ll learn some new tricks.
Yesterday we discovered one of these new tricks when Instagram has been re-listed on the Apple App Store as available for iPhone, iPad, And Apple TV. But this isn’t the first time that Instagram has flirted with the big screen. Initial testing of the new form factor started in late 2025 on Amazon Fire TVs and rolled out to Samsung TVs in mid-2026, so Apple is actually the last to adopt the new TV app.
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The most visible change as part of this new adoption of TV is that Instagram must offer not only the portrait-style videos common to most phone and tablet models, but also horizontal and landscape videos to accommodate TV aspect ratios. As part of its migration to streaming services and smart TVs, Instagram is also explore new video form factorsincluding long-form videos, episodic videos, live streaming and even subscriptions, which would bring it closer to competing with YouTube, the Internet’s leading video content service.
Crushable speed of light
Meta, Instagram’s parent company, is betting that its famously addictive short-form video content will translate well to the big screen, where it can be enjoyed more commonly, and it’s work closely with creators to make the experience of downloading or streaming on Instagram as painless as possible.
This may seem like a risky bet, but if Meta can recover even a fraction of YouTube’s massive audienceit will more than pay off.
Gn tech
