Summary
- Instagram now lets you watch Reels at 2x speed by long-pressing the edge of your screen.
- This fast-forward option works on all Reels, unlike the sometimes-missing progress bar.
- The feature is rolling out globally and was already spotted in a stable build of the Android app.
Instagram overtook TikTok as the world’s most downloaded app last year, at least in part thanks to the Reels feature it launched back in 2020 to take on its Chinese rival. While short-form videos on Meta’s platform have improved over the years, many users think that Instagram is still no match for TikTok when it comes to bite-sized clips.
Time will tell who comes out as the winner, but Meta is hard at work introducing new features to Instagram Reels to reach some level of parity with TikTok, if not beat it. Its adoption of TikTok’s three-minute clips in January this year is a testament to that. Now, you’ll see one more overlap in features between the two major platforms, as Instagram is set to copy another key feature from TikTok.
Related
6 solid TikTok alternatives you should try before the impending US ban
These video-sharing apps offer similar features
Instagram will let you play reels at a faster speed
You may not have felt the need to speed up Reels when Meta limited their length to 90 seconds, but now that they can be as long as 180 seconds, the speed adjustment feature makes sense. Now, a new fast-forward option will allow you to watch Instagram Reels at 2x speed (via TechCrunch).
You won’t see a button to speed up your reels — instead, you’ll have to long-press the right or left side of the screen. When you let go of the screen, the video will resume playback at its normal 1x speed.
On top of that, you can also use the progress bar to skip through reels. However, the caveat is that progress bars don’t appear on all video reels. Luckily, there is no such limitation to the new fast-forward option. While you can watch all reels at 2x speed irrespective of their lengths, the most likely use case for this will be when watching three-minute-long clips.
In a statement to Social Media Today, Instagram revealed that this update is rolling out immediately and will be available across the globe. The company didn’t say whether the feature is tied to a specific app version or a server-side update, but in our testing, the 2x speed controls were live on version 372.0.0.48.60 of the Android app, which was released as a stable build last week.
Instagram started as a photo-sharing app, but later turned into a platform where you can also create and watch short videos. However, that might change in the future, as the social media giant looks to give Reels its own identity. According to sources familiar with the matter, Meta is planning to separate video reels from Instagram by launching a new app called Reels. However, there are no specific details about when it will happen.