By default, Instagram adds your original audio when you record a reel since there’s no option to mute the microphone while recording. Users and creators can also search and add a song from the Instagram music library.
That said, people can freely use your original audio in their own reels when you share a reel with your original audio from a public account. Of course, your audio will be properly attributed to you when someone uses your audio using the “Use Audio” option.
However, there may be times when you might not want random people using your voice or original audio in their content. Unfortunately, Instagram doesn’t offer a direct way to restrict others from using your original sound. The only workaround is to mute the original audio from your reel before sharing it. You can then replace it with a voiceover or a track from the Reels audio library.
Additionally, you might prefer to remove your recorded audio to feature popular, trending, or saved music in your reel.
Whatever the case may be, here’s how you can mute reels on Instagram. We’ll also show you how to turn the sound on or off while watching reels.
How to Remove Sound from a Reel on Instagram
Follow these steps to mute or remove the camera audio from your Instagram reel:
- Record your reel as usual.
- Tap the Next button once you’re done recording.
- In the editing screen, swipe left through the toolbar at the bottom and tap the Volume icon (iPhone) or Slider icon (Android).
- Tap the Speaker icon under Clip to mute your original sound. The volume slider will move to zero, indicating it’s muted.
- Tap Done.
- Optional: To add music after muting the original audio, tap the Music icon, then search for and select a song or audio track from Instagram’s library.
- Add any other effects, text, or stickers if you want, then tap Next to share your reel.
Tip: To change or remove the added music, go to the Music controls section and tap the Delete option. You can also select Replace to add a different song instead.
How to Delete a Voiceover from Instagram Reels
If you’ve added a voiceover to your reel and want to remove it, follow these steps:
- After recording your reel, tap Next at the bottom right.
- Tap Edit video at the bottom left of the screen.
- In the editing timeline, locate and tap the Voiceover clip you wish to delete.
- Tap the Delete (trash can) icon to remove the selected voiceover.
- Tap the preview window to return to the main editing screen.
- Optional: To record a new voiceover, tap the Voiceover icon again and start recording.
RELATED: How to save your own reels in gallery without posting with music
How to Turn Sound On or Off in Instagram Reels
To mute the sound while watching reels on Instagram, simply tap once on the screen while a reel is playing. A muted speaker icon will briefly appear at the center, indicating that reels are now playing without sound.
The reel sound will remain muted for all the reels you watch in a row, even after you close (not force-exit) and reopen the Instagram app.
To unmute reels and turn the sound back on, tap the screen again. A speaker icon will briefly appear, confirming that sound is now enabled.
MORE TIPS:
As of yesterday, whenever I go to turn off the sound on reels, it only pauses, the speaker icon doesn’t show up anymore I don’t know why ?
Maybe, you’re watching reels on Facebook.
Same thing happens to me…for over a month…still didn’t figured out…getting frustrated
Same here – this post is not up to date on this issue. It’s crap UIUX and Instagram/Meta doesn’t care. They rolled out an update without properly testing it. Only some people are having this issue because they only rolled it out to certain people. Instagram’s CEO posted on Twitter about this the other day but so far – no fix.
If you uninstall and reinstall the app you will have control of your volume again for a short period of time… oh well.
I get annoyed that after app relaunches it forgets that i want the reels to be muted, the sounds are too dumb to deal with and i never want to hear them.