Instagram is rolling out a feature that users have been eagerly requesting: a dedicated Watch History for Reels. This new tool allows you to effortlessly find and revisit any Reels you’ve previously watched. Functioning much like YouTube’s watch history, it gives you the power to filter content by specific dates or date ranges, and even locate Reels shared by a particular account on the platform.
Introducing Watch History for Instagram Reels
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, revealed this exciting Watch History feature for Reels in a recent announcement on Threads. You can find it within your Instagram settings, tucked away under the Profile tab. To access it, simply tap the three-line menu in the top-right corner of your screen, then navigate to Settings > Your activity > Watch history.
The announcement was initially shared via a Threads post by Adam Mosseri, detailing the new functionality and how users can begin exploring their past Reels activity.
This handy Watch History section is conveniently located under the How you use Instagram tab within your app settings.
While the fundamental concept mirrors watch history features found on other platforms like YouTube, Instagram’s iteration comes with enhanced search capabilities. Mosseri highlighted three distinct tabs designed to help you pinpoint the exact Reel you’re looking for. By default, your history will display all Reels viewed within the last 30 days. Should you choose, you also have the option to remove specific Reels from your history.
Visuals demonstrating the Watch History feature interface on Android (left), the general user interface (center), and iOS (right).
The first tab offers a straightforward sorting mechanism, allowing you to arrange Reels from oldest to newest or vice-versa. The second tab expands on this with more robust date-based filtering. While set to All dates initially, you can refine your search with options like Past week and Past month.
Beyond preset options, Instagram also lets you pinpoint a custom date range to search for Reels viewed within that specific timeframe.
A third, highly useful tab allows for even greater precision in your search. If you recall the original creator of a Reel, you can utilize the new Filter by author tab to search your watch history by that specific account.
As Adam Mosseri aptly put it, this feature aims to help users finally “find that thing that you were trying to find that you couldn’t find before.”
We can confirm that Instagram’s new Watch History feature for Reels is now accessible on both Android and iOS platforms.
(An embedded video demonstrating the Watch History feature functionality would typically be shown here.)