So, I wanted to take a break from those short videos on Instagram, you know, the Reels. They’re fun and all, but sometimes you just need a break, right? I went on a mission to figure out how to turn them off.
First, I opened the Instagram app on my phone. Just the usual routine, nothing special.
- Tap on the profile picture
- Find the settings menu
- Look for an option to disable Reels
Next, I tapped on my profile icon at the bottom right. You know, the little picture of yourself.
Then I dug around the settings. I thought there would be a simple button to just turn off Reels, but nope, Instagram doesn’t make it that easy. It took a while to find where the option might be.
After a little bit of searching, I found that you can’t actually turn off Reels completely. Seriously, I couldn’t believe it! All those articles online made it sound so easy.
You can report the reel you don’t want to see
But here’s the thing, even though you can’t completely get rid of them, you can kind of train the algorithm. If you see a Reel you don’t like, hit the three dots and choose “Not Interested.” It’s like telling Instagram, “Hey, I don’t want to see this kind of stuff.”
I started doing this for a few days, just marking Reels as “Not Interested” whenever they popped up. Slowly but surely, I started seeing fewer and fewer of them. It’s not perfect, but it’s something.
So, yeah, that’s my experience with trying to deactivate Instagram Reels. It’s not as straightforward as you’d think, but you can at least make them show up less often. If you’re like me and you just want a little less Reels in your life, give it a try!
