Can’t pause or mute Instagram Reels with a tap? Here’s what's going on

Update 25/06/24 11:26 am (IST): While Instagram continues to A/B test the tap function on Reels, there are a couple of workarounds that you can try out in order to mute Reels on Instagram. The easiest solution, as suggested by Instagrammers, is to simply mute a Reel from your feed/homepage itself by tapping on the ‘Mute’ icon at the bottom. Once muted, you can open up Reels in the full-view and continue scrolling away.

Another user suggested doing the following:

Kinda random but if you open spotify and play music you can turn the volume all the way down on insta with a reel playing then pull down the spotify notification bar so it covers your screen and put the volume back up it will stay muted in insta. You can then pause the music and continue scrolling with the reels muted.

Original article published on April 15, 2024 follows:

Many Instagram users are expressing their frustration as they noticed the recently added option to pause Reels with a tap is no longer working. Reports about the problem have been pouring in for days and can be seen on Reddit and X for the most part. Apart from that, others are also confused as to why they can’t mute Reels on Instagram anymore. I’ve shared a few reports from users below for reference:

How come sometimes I can tap to pause reels and other times it mutes them? Like 80% of the time when I tap a reel it mutes it but the other 20% it pauses it, is there a reason for this and can I make it so that it’s only one or the other? (Source)

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I am desperate to know how to watch reels without sound. Did they take this feature away? (Source)

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@instagram I saw the a/b test, bring back the pause button and put the mute button where u put it, thanks. (Source)

In case you’ve stumbled upon this article and are wondering what’s the whole problem about, then here’s what’s happening. Traditionally, when you tap on the screen while viewing a Reel, you expect the audio to get muted. However, with server-side tweaks, Instagram lately started testing something new. Instead of muting the sound, tapping on an Instagram Reel results in the video getting paused. Of course, this left many people with different opinions about the change, but that’s a whole separate topic.

Now, coming back to why you can’t pause Instagram Reels anymore. Well, the answer is pretty simple. Like with any other major feature release, Instagram is currently A/B testing the ability to pause Reels rather than mute them. Instead, they added a separate button to mute the video. However, the placement and availability of this button is confusing too. Some claim it’s at the top while others say it’s just below the Like, Comment, and Share buttons. Then, some say it’s not available in either of the two spots. I also couldn’t see the mute button in a screenshot shared by a user on X:

Nevertheless, just as how some are confused about the missing ability to pause Reels, those who are looking to mute videos with a tap are also baffled. So it’s clear that Instagram needs to get a grip on its experiments and stop changing the functionality frequently.

This ongoing A/B testing means that you sometimes might be able to mute videos with a tap while other times you might see the video pause with a tap. Sadly, there’s nothing you can do from your end to permanently choose either muting or pausing videos.

If you use the option to pause videos a lot, you can still get a similar experience if you press and hold on the screen. This is the OG method to pause Reels, however, there’s a slight delay. Moreover, the video only remains paused till your finger remains on the screen. If you accidentally lift up the finger, it’ll continue playing.

That said, I hope this article helped solve the confusion surrounding the missing pause or mute option (depending on your situation) when watching Reels on Instagram. Also, do let me know what option you prefer: tap to pause or tap to mute? You can drop your answer in the comments section below.