Instagram may be testing a small setting with a large consequence: letting people choose to open the app directly into Reels.
The option, reported by Social Media Today after screenshots were posted by app researcher Radu Oncescu, would make Reels the first feed some users see. Stories would remain at the top of the home screen, while the traditional post feed would still be available through a swipe or control. Users could also switch back to the standard experience.
That detail matters. Instagram is not apparently forcing everyone into a video-first interface yet. It is testing whether users will volunteer for one.
Instagram is making the preferred behavior feel like a preference
The proposed setting gives Instagram a softer route to the same destination it has been moving toward for years. Instead of declaring that Reels is now the main Instagram experience, the platform can let users select it, measure what happens, and use the results to inform a wider rollout.
Social Media Today notes that Instagram tested a similar format in India last year. In that version, Stories appeared above the Reels feed and users could reach the traditional feed through an icon at the top right. The pattern is familiar across social platforms: introduce a new default as an option first, then watch whether people adapt without being pushed.
The reported logic is also straightforward. More than half of the time users spend on Instagram is said to be spent watching Reels, while the platform’s engagement gains have been driven by the short-form video product. If that behavior is already where attention is concentrated, opening directly to Reels removes one more step between the user and the activity Instagram most wants to encourage.
The feed is becoming a choice of habit, not a neutral starting point
For users, this could be convenient. Someone who primarily opens Instagram to watch video would no longer need to pass through a mixed feed first. For creators, it would reinforce the value of making content that can win attention immediately, rather than relying on a follower opening the app in the older chronological or connection-led environment.
For Instagram, the more important test is whether a preference can change the meaning of the product without triggering resistance. The classic Instagram experience was built around posts from people users chose to follow. Reels is built more heavily around recommendation, rapid consumption, and repeated viewing. Making Reels the entry point would move the app further from a social inbox and closer to a personalized entertainment surface.
That is why the opt-in framing is strategically useful. It gives Instagram a way to increase Reels consumption while preserving an escape hatch for people who still want the traditional feed. If enough users choose the video-first version, the platform will have evidence that the behavior can become more standard. If they do not, Instagram can call the experiment a preference rather than a failed replacement.
The immediate implication for brands is modest but clear: Reels is not only a format inside Instagram. It is increasingly the environment Instagram wants users to enter first. Any future shift from optional setting to default would make the opening seconds of the app even more important for creators and advertisers competing for attention.
Instagram may still leave the old feed in place. But this test suggests the platform is no longer treating it as the natural front door.