I have an iPad without that feature, and it's maybe 5 years old? I think it's a newer feature.
Also, in the past you could tap and hold on text and it would magnify the view around where you were tapping, but that feature was dropped at some point.
This is back in iOS/iPadOS 15.
I got my iPad, tried several different apps, and I now see that the feature is present in all of the ones I tried.
I think what I did differently this time was hold the spacebar down long enough for the feature to kick in. On my android phone there isn't that long of a delay, so I think that's what threw me off.
Thank you for the correction!