The short version: You cannot fully delete reels from Instagram, but you can hide them from your main feed and dramatically reduce how often they show up, through the Content Preferences menu in Settings. It takes about ninety seconds, works on both iPhone and Android, and I'll walk you through every tap below, plus the bit nobody tells you about why reels always creep back.
Why this question even exists
Instagram used to be photos, a caption, maybe a boomerang if you were feeling adventurous. Now open the app and your feed is mostly video, stitched in between posts from accounts you follow and accounts an algorithm decided you'd like. For a lot of people that's not what they signed up for. They want to see their friend's holiday photos and the dog down the road, not a constant stream of trending audio and strangers dancing in kitchens.
Meta has been public about pushing more video and more recommended content across its apps, and Instagram is no exception. So the question "how do I turn off reels" isn't a niche complaint, it's one of the most searched Instagram settings questions there is, right up there with why stories won't autoplay.
The actual steps that work in 2026
Instagram doesn't put this in an obvious place, which is annoying, but the path is consistent across devices. Here's exactly what to do:
- Open Instagram and tap your profile photo in the bottom right
- Tap the three lines (menu) in the top right corner
- Go to Settings and privacy
- Tap Content preferences
- Scroll to Posts, photos and videos, or on some versions it sits under Suggested content
- Tap Reduce, then select Reels
From there Instagram will show you a toggle or slider asking how much you want to see. Choose "see fewer" and it will deprioritise reels in your main feed for roughly 30 days before quietly asking again. This isn't a permanent off switch, it's a dial, and that distinction matters more than most guides admit.
There's a second, separate setting worth doing at the same time: under the same Content preferences menu, go to Account suggestions and reduce those too, because a chunk of the reels clogging your feed come from accounts you don't follow at all, just ones Instagram thinks you'll like based on your activity.
If you only want reels gone from the main feed but you're happy to still use the Reels tab when you choose to, leave that tab alone. You're not deleting reels from existence, you're telling Instagram to stop force-feeding them to you outside the tab built for them.
A worked example
Say you run a small florist with 4,200 followers on Instagram, and you check the app mainly to reply to DMs and see what your regular customers are posting. Every time you open it, three or four reels interrupt the scroll before you reach actual posts from people you follow. You go into Settings, Content preferences, Suggested content, and reduce both reels and account suggestions. Within a day or two your feed shifts back toward mostly photo posts and stories from accounts you follow, with the odd reel still slipping through from close friends or accounts you interact with daily, like, comment, save. That's normal. Instagram never promised zero, it promised fewer, and fewer is roughly what you get.
What doesn't change, no matter what you toggle
This is the part most "how to" pages skip over because it's less satisfying than a neat list of settings. Turning off reels in your feed does not turn off reels in Explore, does not stop them appearing in DMs when someone sends you one, and does not stop Instagram counting you as a reels viewer for ad targeting purposes. You're still in the audience pool advertisers can pay to reach with video content, the setting just controls what you personally see scroll past, not what Meta knows about your viewing habits elsewhere in the app.
And if you're a business owner or creator rather than a personal user, there's an uncomfortable trade-off worth naming plainly: the same reels you're trying to hide from your own feed are, right now, the format Instagram's algorithm rewards most heavily for reach. Reducing reels for yourself as a viewer has zero effect on your own posting strategy, but if you're also the person running the account, don't mistake "I'm tired of watching reels" for "reels don't work." Those are two completely separate decisions, and conflating them is a common mistake I see business owners make when they let personal app fatigue bleed into marketing strategy. If you're unsure where that line sits for your own content plan, it's worth getting a real second opinion from an AI consultant for small business who can look at your actual numbers rather than your personal annoyance level.
If the setting resets itself
Instagram's reduce option isn't permanent, and this trips people up. After about 30 days the algorithm starts testing reels back into your feed to see if your preferences have changed, which is standard behaviour across most of Meta's recommendation systems. If you notice reels creeping back after a month, go back through the same Content preferences path and reduce them again. It's a small nuisance, not a bug, and it's worth bookmarking the full settings walkthrough on how to turn off reels on your Instagram feed in 2026 if you want the version-by-version breakdown for different app updates, since Meta does shuffle menu names every few months.
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Other feed annoyances worth fixing at the same time
While you're in settings mode, a few related fixes are worth doing in the same sitting, because they tend to cluster together for people who feel like Instagram has stopped behaving the way it used to:
- If stories have stopped playing automatically when you tap into them, that's a separate setting covered in this guide on why Instagram stories don't autoplay and how to fix it
- If you're getting the dreaded "try again later" message when you try to make changes, that's usually a temporary rate limit rather than a broken account, explained here in why Instagram says try again later and how long it lasts
- If the app won't load at all while you're trying to sort these settings out, check your connection against this breakdown of fixing Instagram not loading on wifi and mobile data
None of these are related technically, but they all come from the same place, Instagram's settings being scattered across menus that don't match where you'd intuitively look.
What I'd tell a friend to do
Reduce reels and account suggestions together, accept that it's a 30 day cycle you'll need to repeat, and stop expecting the toggle to do more than it says. If you want video gone entirely from your scrolling life, the blunt answer is that Instagram is the wrong app for that goal, full stop. The platform's entire growth strategy for the last few years has centred on short video, and no setting buried three menus deep is going to reverse a company-wide product direction. You can turn the volume down. You cannot turn it off.
Frequently asked questions
Can you permanently remove reels from Instagram?
No. There is no setting that deletes reels from Instagram entirely. The Reduce option under Content preferences lowers how often they appear in your main feed for about 30 days, after which Instagram tests showing them to you again.
Why do reels keep coming back after I reduce them?
Instagram's recommendation system periodically reintroduces content types you've reduced, usually after around a month, to check whether your preferences have changed. You simply need to go back into Settings and privacy, Content preferences, and reduce reels again.
Does turning off reels in my feed stop me appearing to advertisers who target reel viewers?
No. Reducing reels only controls what you see scrolling through your own feed. It does not remove your account from the audience data Meta uses for ad targeting based on your past viewing behaviour.
Will reducing reels hurt my own posts if I run a business account?
No, reducing reels as a viewer has no effect on how your own content performs. Reach for your posts depends on engagement and format choices on your account, not on your personal viewing preferences, so the two should be treated as separate decisions.
