Instagram's Reels and longer-form videos are now reachable directly on Apple TV, after Meta released a dedicated app for the platform. The addition completes a rollout that already covers Fire TV, Google TV and Samsung smart TVs, pushing Instagram further into living-room viewing dominated by YouTube.
What the Apple TV app offers
The app is available through the Apple TV App Store and requires tvOS 26.0 or later. According to App Store metadata reported by MacRumors, the release appears to have gone live on 23 October. Its listed features include Reels, longer videos, live shows, content discovery tools and the ability to resume watching a video on another device after starting it on television.
This mirrors functionality Instagram has been building out on other connected TV platforms over the past year, rather than introducing a distinct feature set exclusive to Apple's ecosystem.
A rollout that started on other platforms
Instagram's push into television began with testing on Fire TV in the US in December 2025, followed by an expansion to Google TV in February. Samsung smart TVs from 2020 onward gained access in June, a milestone Meta used to note that its combined supported platforms reached the majority of connected TV devices in the country.
The Samsung announcement also detailed features aimed at group and passive viewing, including interest-based channels, the option to cast Reels from a phone to a television screen, Stories displayed on TV, and a section dedicated to horizontal video formats better suited to larger screens.
Longer formats still in development
Meta has said it is exploring longer creator videos, episodic series and live programming, and working with creators on how these formats might extend their existing Instagram output. These remain stated development goals rather than confirmed features available on every supported device, and the Apple TV launch itself does not introduce new programming formats beyond what is already listed in the app description.
The strategic intent, however, is consistent across platforms: encourage continuous viewing through channels and recurring content rather than single clips, which could help Instagram build sustained television viewing time and eventually compete for advertising budgets tied to connected TV audiences.
What it means for creators and competitors
For creators, broader TV distribution offers another venue for content designed to move between mobile and television screens. For streaming services and broadcasters, Instagram's expanding footprint represents an additional competitor for shared-screen attention, bringing with it an established creator base and a large existing mobile audience, even as many of its long-form ambitions remain in early stages.