Instagram now lets anyone download public Reels

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced Wednesday that it now lets users worldwide download public reels. Before this update, you could only save reels to Instagram for later viewing.

Mosseri said on his Instagram broadcast channel that downloaded reels will have a TikTok-like account name watermark.

Tap share and download to save a reel. Accounts can disable reel downloading. Settings > Privacy > Reels and Remix > “Allow people to download your reels” toggles off downloads.

Note that licensed audio reels will not have audio when downloaded. Only reels with original audio tracks have sound in downloaded clips.

The company began allowing Reels downloads for U.S. users in June and is now expanding globally.

Instagram stopped recommending TikTok- or other-watermarked clips in 2021. YouTube added a logo-based watermark to downloaded shorts in August 2022 to discourage cross-platform sharing.