Snapchat Launches Native iPad App

Good news for Snapchat marketers, as well as creators developing AR experiences for the app, with the platform now reformatted specifically for iPad screens.

As per the latest iOS update notes on the Snapchat app:

“Snapchat now offers native support for iPad! This means that Snapchat will fill an iPad’s full screen, providing you with a larger canvas when capturing Snaps and allowing you to see more friends on the 2nd and 4th tabs.”

To be clear, Snapchat has been available on iPad for some time, but it’s essentially a re-skinned version of the mobile app, scaled up for larger iPad screens.

As you can see in this image, the iPad version of the app comes with black bars along the sides, in order to fit the screen into the iPad format. There are also other display limits that can cause glitches in presentation, because the app that you’re seeing isn’t made for the bigger iPad display.

But now, with this update, you’ll have a full-sized, fully functional version of the app, built specifically for the larger iPad screen. That’ll obviously increase Snapchat’s usage and accessibility, but as noted, it could also make it a good testing ground for new ads and in-app experiences, as you’ll be able to view them in a larger format.

You’ll also be able to test out your AR Snap Lens experiences on a larger screen.

As such, it’s a good update, which will provide new access considerations for Snap, and could be a handy consideration to keep in mind for your testing processes.

So next time you’re trying out a new Snap AR experience, test it on iPad, and see if that shows up any additional imperfections which may not be as noticeable on smaller devices.