How to pause Instagram Reels

Instagram Reels is undoubtedly one of the app’s most popular features, as it allows users to share things without posting them to their feeds. But how do you pause a Reel? Here’s everything to know.

Instagram Reels make up a huge portion of the content on the social media app, with users constantly creating and posting new videos to share with their friends and followers.

The feature is similar to TikTok in its focus on vertical short-form videos, and has proven to be popular among millions of users.

Naturally, as with any video content, you may at some point be inclined to pause an Instagram Reel. But you have probably already noticed that a standard single tap on the screen doesn’t pause the video like it might on other platforms.

So, can you pause Instagram Reels? Here’s everything you need to know.

How to pause Reels on Instagram

If you want to pause a Reel video, you need to press your finger on the screen and hold it down. The Reel stays paused for as long as you hold your finger down, and as soon as you lift it, the video starts playing again.

As mentioned above, a standard single tap on the screen doesn’t pause an Instagram Reel like it would on TikTok or other similar platforms.

Instead, when you tap a Reel, it only mutes the audio. This can be good if you just want to scroll through the comments, for example, and don’t want the distraction of the video repeating on a loop as you read them.

If you want to know more about how to use Instagram, you can check out our other guides here:

How to link your Instagram account to TikTok | How to see your first-liked Instagram post | How to switch Instagram feed to chronological order | How to re-share a post to your Story on Instagram | How to make money on Instagram | How to hide likes on Instagram