The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, announced on Wednesday that anybody in the world can now download public Reels to their devices via the app.
Prior to this announcement, Reels could only be saved to the Instagram app to be viewed at a later time.
According to Mosseri’s Instagram broadcast channel, Reels that are downloaded will include an account name and Instagram watermark, similar to what is seen on TikTok.
To save a reel, users can hit the share icon and choose the download option. Users will be able to disable downloading for their reels. By going to Settings > Privacy > Reels and Remix and selecting the “Allow people to download your Reels” toggle, you can disable the download option.
Notably, the downloaded video will not have any audio if you are downloading a Reel that incorporates a licenced audio clip. The downloaded clip will only contain audio from Reels that have their original audio tracks.
The company began enabling customers in the United States to download Reels in June, and it is now expanding the feature to people worldwide.
