Instagram head Adam Mosseri on Wednesday 22nd November, 2023 on his Instagram broadcast channel announced that Instagram now allows all users across the world to download public Reels to their devices. Prior to this rollout, you could only save Reels to the Instagram app for viewing later. The downloaded reels however will have an Instagram watermark with an account name just like the one you see on TikTok.
How to download Instagram Reels.
Users can tap on the share button and select the download option to save a reel. Accounts will have the ability to turn off downloading for their Reels. You can turn the download option off through Settings > Privacy > Reels and Remix and tap on the Allow people to download your Reels toggle. The company started allowing Reels download for U.S. based users in June this year 2023 and now it is rolling out the ability to users across the world.
One thing to note is that if you are downloading a Reel that uses a licensed audio clip, the downloaded video will not have any audio. Only Reels with original audio tracks will have sound in the downloaded clip. For Instagram users under the age of 18 with public accounts, the download feature is initially deactivated, but they retain the flexibility to activate it at their convenience.
Instagram testing a feature for users to disable read receipts
In the case of public accounts, Reels can be downloaded by any Instagram user. The download settings can be customized for specific posts or the entire account. On the contrary, for private accounts, Reels downloads are restricted. This means that no one on Instagram can access the content unless the account owner chooses to switch their privacy setting to public. Meanwhile, Instagram is offering public account holders the ability to manage their download settings. This will provide them with the control to decide whether or not their followers can download their Reels.
To manage settings:
- Record and edit your reel, then tap Next in the bottom right.
- Tap More options at the bottom.
- Scroll down and tap Advanced Settings.
- Find “Allow people to download your reels” and toggle the switch to turn the setting on or off.
- Choose whether to enable or disable downloading for all reels or only for the specific reel being uploaded.
- Tap back in the top left to return, then tap Share at the bottom.
Instagram further notes that in the case of public accounts, only newly created reels can be downloaded unless there are modifications to the download settings. In 2021, Instagram stopped recommending clips with a TikTok watermark (or any other watermark). In August 2022, YouTube began embedding a logo-based watermark on downloaded Shorts — the company’s short video product — to deter cross-platform sharing.