If you’ve noticed that your Instagram saved reels have disappeared or gone private, you’re not alone. Instagram recently made a change that now keeps saved reels private by default. This means only you can see your saved reels – they won’t show up on your profile for others to see anymore.
Why did Instagram make saved reels private?
Instagram decided to make this change to give users more control over their privacy. With reels being a more personal form of content, not all users may want to share all of their saved reels publicly on their profile. So Instagram opted to keep them private for more privacy.
Additionally, making saved reels private helps keep your profile from becoming cluttered. With reels auto-saving by default whenever you like or comment on them, your saved reels could quickly pile up. This change declutters profiles by removing public saved reels.
How to view your saved Instagram reels
While your saved reels are now private, you can still view them easily:
- Go to your profile and tap the three lines menu in the top right corner.
- Select “Saved”
- This will open your saved posts, including all of your private saved reels.
You can scroll through and watch all of your saved reels here. Only you will be able to see them.
Making individual reels public
If you want to make one of your saved reels public, you can:
- Go to your saved reels section
- Tap on the reel you want to share
- Tap the three dots in the bottom right corner
- Select “Share to profile”
This will post that individual reel publicly on your profile. Your other saved reels will remain private.
Sharing reels to Close Friends
In addition to sharing saved reels publicly, you can also share them with your Close Friends list. To do this:
- Go to your saved reels
- Tap the reel you want to share
- Tap the airplane icon in the bottom left corner
- Select “Close Friends” to share it with just that group
This allows you to share specific saved reels with your closest friends privately.
Posting your reels as stories
You can also reshare saved reels as stories. This will add them to your story where they remain visible for 24 hours.
To do this:
- Go to your saved reels
- Tap the reel you want to share
- Tap the paper airplane icon in the bottom left
- Select “Add post to your story”
The reel will now be shared as a story. You can customize it with stickers, text, and more.
Saving reels before they disappear
Sometimes you may want to save a reel before it disappears from the app. To do this:
- When you see a reel you want to keep, tap on it
- Tap the ribbon icon below the video
- Tap “Save”
This adds it to your saved reels so you can access it anytime, even if it gets deleted off Instagram.
How long do saved Instagram reels last?
Your saved Instagram reels will remain available indefinitely, or until you unsave them. There is no limit on how many reels you can save either. Saved reels do not expire after 24 hours like posts shared to your story.
So feel free to build up a collection of your favorite reels to rewatch anytime. They will stay safe in your saved reels.
Why can’t I save some reels?
In some cases, you may not have the option to save a reel. There are a couple reasons this can happen:
- The reel owner chose not to allow saves. Creators can disable saving on their reels.
- The reel contains copyrighted or licensed music. These reels usually cannot be downloaded or saved.
- The reel is over 90 seconds long. Reels longer than 90 seconds cannot be saved.
- You have the user blocked. You won’t be able to save reels from accounts you’ve blocked.
So if the save icon is missing on a reel, it’s likely for one of those reasons. The creator intentionally disabled saving or the content itself restricts downloads.
Using saved reels in your own reels
You can take clips and snippets from your saved reels to use in the reels you create. This lets you remix and reuse content in new, creative ways. To do this:
- Open the Instagram camera
- Swipe over to “Reels”
- Tap on the “+ Clips” option at the bottom
- Select one of your saved reels
- Trim a clip and add it to your new reel
You can mix and match clips from multiple saved reels to craft unique reels of your own. Just make sure to credit the original creators.
Deleting or unsaving reels
Want to clear out some of your saved reels? You can easily delete individual reels or remove them in bulk.
To delete one reel:
- Go to your saved reels
- Tap on the reel you want to remove
- Tap the three dots in the bottom right corner
- Select “Unsave”
To delete multiple reels at once:
- Go to your saved reels
- Tap the checkbox at the top of the screen to select reels
- Tap the trash icon to delete all selected reels
The reels will be immediately removed from your saved collection. So be sure before purging your saved reels!
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find my saved Instagram reels?
Your saved reels can be accessed by going to your profile, tapping the three lines menu, and selecting “Saved.” Only you can view your saved reels.
Can I make a private Instagram account but public saved reels?
No, if your Instagram account is set to private, your saved reels will also remain private. To share saved reels publicly, your profile has to be public.
Where do saved Instagram reels get stored?
Instagram saves your reels internally, so they do not take up storage space on your device. They are stored securely in your account in Instagram’s cloud servers.
Can I save Instagram reels without the Creator knowing?
Yes, saving a reel is anonymous. Creators are not notified when someone saves their reels. Only you can see your saved collection.
How many reels can you save on Instagram?
There is no limit to how many reels you can save, so you can build up a limitless collection of your favorite reels to rewatch.
Why can I not share my saved reels to Facebook anymore?
Previously you could share Instagram reels to Facebook. However, now that saved reels are private, you can no longer cross-post them to Facebook. You can only share individual reels.
The Bottom Line
Instagram making saved reels private allows for more user control over privacy. While your full collection is now private, you can still share individual reels publicly or to Close Friends.
Saved reels offer a great way to bookmark favorite reels to replay indefinitely. Be sure to access them from your profile menu under “Saved.” Have fun discovering and collecting Instagram’s most entertaining reels in your own private stash!