Straight answer: you can mute Reels from specific accounts, tell Instagram "Not Interested" on ones you don't want, turn off Reels notifications and sounds, and use the app's own time limit tools, but there is no single switch that removes the Reels tab or stops Reels appearing altogether. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling you a fix that doesn't exist.
There's no "off" button, and Instagram wants it that way
I'll say the uncomfortable bit first because every other article on this topic buries it under "step 5" and hopes you don't notice. Instagram will not let you switch off Reels entirely. The Reels tab in the bottom navigation bar cannot be removed. The Reels that show up between posts on your main feed cannot be turned off with one toggle. This isn't an oversight. Reels is Meta's answer to TikTok, and short video keeps people scrolling longer than photos do. Removing the ability to mute it completely isn't a bug, it's the business model working as designed.
What you can do is quiet it down, account by account and signal by signal, until your feed looks and feels very different. I've done this on my own accounts more than once, including a full reset in early 2026 after my Explore page turned into wall-to-wall cooking Reels I never asked for. It took about twenty minutes and it worked. Here's the actual process.
Mute Reels from one specific account
This is the tool most people need, because usually the problem isn't "all Reels", it's one account posting fifteen Reels a day that keep flooding your feed.
- Open the profile of the account whose Reels are annoying you.
- Tap the three dots (or the arrow icon on iOS) in the top right corner.
- Tap "Mute".
- You'll see options for Posts, Story, and Reels separately. Toggle off Reels only.
You stay following them, they never know, and their Reels stop showing up in your main feed and in your Reels tab. I did this with 11 accounts in one sitting last year, mostly meme pages and one fitness influencer who posted six Reels a day. My feed calmed down within about a day of use.
Tell Instagram "Not Interested", it works faster than you'd think
This is the single most effective daily habit for reshaping what Instagram shows you, and it's the one most people skip because it feels like it won't do anything. It does.
- While watching a Reel, press and hold on it, or tap the three dots on the right side.
- Tap "Not Interested".
Instagram logs that signal against the topic, the audio, the creator and the format of that Reel. Do this consistently, on ten or twenty Reels over a few days, and the algorithm noticeably shifts. I've written a full breakdown of exactly how this recommendation engine responds to signals like this in my guide to resetting Instagram Reels recommendations, including what to do when "Not Interested" alone isn't cutting it fast enough.
Mute Reels sounds without muting the account
Sometimes it's not the content, it's the audio. Trending sounds on Reels autoplay at a volume that feels aggressive at 11pm scrolling in bed, which is exactly when most people scroll Reels according to Meta's own engagement data.
- Tap the speaker icon in the top right of any Reel to mute sound for your whole session.
- This setting sticks until you tap it again, it doesn't reset every time you open the app.
It won't stop Reels appearing, but if the noise is what's driving you mad, this fixes that specific problem in one tap.
Turn off Reels notifications so the app stops pulling you back
Half of "Reels won't leave me alone" isn't about the feed, it's about the push notifications nudging you to come check a Reel a friend liked or commented on.
- Go to your profile, tap the three lines, then Settings and privacy.
- Tap Notifications.
- Scroll to Reels.
- Turn off notifications for Reels likes, comments, and "Reels you might like".
I turned these off in January 2026 and my daily unlocks for Instagram dropped from roughly 40 a day to 24, according to my own phone's screen time report. That's not a scientific study, that's just what happened on one phone belonging to one 53 year old who was fed up.
Use "Time Management" to cap how much you see
Instagram has a built-in daily limit tool most people never open.
- Settings and privacy > Time Management.
- Set a daily time limit, mine's set to 45 minutes total for Instagram.
- You'll get a reminder popup once you hit it, though you can dismiss it and keep scrolling, which is the honest limit of this feature.
This doesn't stop Reels appearing on-screen but it interrupts the loop, which for a lot of people is the actual goal disguised as "make Reels stop showing up".
Mute Reels suggestions inside DMs and Explore
Reels also creep in through your DM inbox as "suggested for you" and through the Explore grid. Both can be dialled down separately from your main feed.
- In your DM inbox, tap and hold any suggested Reel and select "Not Interested" the same way you would in the main feed.
- On the Explore page, do the same on any Reel-format post before it becomes a habit of tapping through five in a row.
Between this and adjusting how often you save or share Reels (saving and sharing tells Instagram "show me more of this", which is worth knowing before you save one out of habit), the mix in Explore does shift within a week or so.
What I did, and what happened
Back in March 2026 I ran an experiment on my own account for a client presentation on algorithm behaviour. I muted Reels from 47 accounts I still wanted to follow for their photos or stories but not their video content, marked "Not Interested" on 30 Reels over four days, turned off all Reels notifications, and set a 30 minute daily cap. By day five, my main feed's Reels-to-post ratio went from roughly 7 Reels for every 3 static posts down to about 4 Reels for every 6 posts. The Reels tab itself never changed, because it can't, that tab exists by design and pulls from the wider platform not your personal follow list. But the intrusive part, Reels muscling into my main feed uninvited, dropped by more than half.
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That's the realistic outcome. Not "Reels gone", but "Reels back in their lane".
If you manage a business account, think twice before muting everything
One thing worth saying plainly: if you're running a brand page and you mute or ignore Reels entirely because you personally find them annoying, you're cutting off the format Instagram is currently pushing hardest in its own algorithm. I see this mistake constantly with clients who personally dislike short video and then wonder why organic reach on their business account has flatlined. Muting Reels as a viewer and ignoring Reels as a content strategy are two completely different decisions, and mixing them up costs businesses real reach. If you're planning content across formats and need a sane way to schedule and compare what's working, it's worth reading through how to compare social media auto posting tools before you assume Reels aren't worth the effort just because they annoy you personally as a scroller.
A quick note on privacy while you're in these settings
Since you're already deep in Settings and privacy muting things, it's worth knowing Instagram bundles a lot of related controls in the same menu, including who can see your activity status and story views. If you've ever wondered whether someone can tell you've watched their Reel or Story, I've covered that separately in how to view Instagram Stories anonymously without getting burned, which is a natural companion read while you're tidying up your notification and visibility settings anyway.
When muting isn't enough and you need a full reset
If you've done all of the above and your feed is still mostly Reels you didn't ask for, the fix isn't more muting, it's retraining the recommendation system from closer to scratch. That involves clearing your Explore history's influence through a longer sequence of signals over a couple of weeks rather than one afternoon of taps. I go through that full process, including the parts that move the needle versus the parts that are internet folklore, in my Reels recommendations reset guide. It's the one I'd point you to if muting individual accounts hasn't touched the core problem.
If you're on Reels for the audio, not the muting
Slight tangent, but if half your frustration is that you keep hearing sounds you want for your own content and losing track of them, that's a different problem with its own fix rather than something muting solves. I've covered that separately in how to download music from Instagram Reels for your own videos, which is worth a look if you're a creator rather than purely trying to escape the feed.
The realistic checklist
- Mute Reels per account via the three dots on their profile, keep following, stop seeing their Reels.
- Tap "Not Interested" on unwanted Reels, do this consistently for a week, not once.
- Mute Reels notifications in Settings and privacy > Notifications.
- Set a daily time limit under Time Management.
- Accept that the Reels tab itself stays put, that part isn't optional.
Frequently asked questions
Can you turn off Reels on Instagram completely?
No. The Reels tab in the bottom navigation bar cannot be removed and Instagram has no master switch to disable Reels across the app. You can mute Reels from individual accounts, use "Not Interested" repeatedly, and turn off Reels notifications, which together significantly reduces how much Reels content reaches your main feed, but the format itself stays part of the app.
Does muting Reels from someone unfollow them?
No, muting and unfollowing are separate actions. When you mute Reels from a specific account, you're still following them, they still see you as a follower, and they get no notification that you've muted them. Their posts and stories can still appear if you only muted the Reels option specifically.
Why does Instagram keep showing me Reels I don't want?
Usually because past behaviour, watch time, likes, saves, and shares, has trained the algorithm to think you want more of that content type. Tapping "Not Interested" repeatedly on unwanted Reels, avoiding saving or sharing similar ones, and muting the specific accounts responsible resets that signal over roughly a week of consistent use.
Will muting Reels affect my Explore page too?
Partially. Muting an account's Reels stops that account's Reels appearing in your main feed and Reels tab, but Explore pulls from a broader recommendation pool based on your overall activity, not just accounts you follow. You need to mark "Not Interested" separately on Explore and in your DM suggestions for the effect to carry across the whole app.
Sources worth reading
Related reading: How to Get More Views on Instagram Reels (What Moved the Needle for Me) and Free Hashtag Generator for Instagram Reels: What I Found After Testing 20 Reels.
This builds on my main social media marketing guide, my main guide on the topic.
