Reel safe zone
Your name, caption and audio run along the bottom, and the like, comment, repost and share buttons run down the right. The bottom is the busiest part of the screen.
Instagram safe zone checker
Drop a frame or a video. See which lines Instagram’s buttons, caption or grid crop will cover, and how far to move each one.
Free, no sign-up, nothing uploaded.
12 moments from your video
Select a moment to jump there.
Showing our sample frame.
Text check
Looking for text…
We look for burned-in text, like a hook or subtitles, right here in your browser. Small or faint text can slip past, and a busy pattern can look like words.
Free, no sign-upYour file stays on your deviceAd zones checked against Meta, TikTok and YouTube on October 24, 2026
THE NUMBERS
Instagram safe zones
in pixels.
Instagram publishes no safe zone for organic posts. Meta publishes one for ads. Here are both, at 1080 × 1920.
| Where | Top | Bottom | Sides | Bottom right (buttons) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reelsorganic, preliminary | 220 px | 450 px | 35 px | 135 px wide, from 1000 px down |
| Storiesorganic, preliminary | 250 px | 250 px | – | – |
| Reels and Stories adsMeta | 269 px (14%) | 672 px (35%), or 768 px (40%) with a disclaimer | 65 px (6%) | 227 px wide, from 1152 px down (21% × 40%) |
| TikTok adsTikTok | 240 px | 660 px | 120 px | 300 px wide, from 840 px down |
| Vertical video ads, Shorts includedYouTube | 288 px | 672 px | 48 px left, 192 px right | – |
| Clear on all threecross-posting | 288 px | 672 px | 120 px left, 192 px right | 300 px wide, from 840 px down |
Meta says that on phones taller than 9:16 an ad is either zoomed to fill the screen, which crops its edges, or shown with black bars. Instagram also moves its buttons now and then. Leave a little room past every line; the green box in the checker already does.
WHERE IT’S SHOWN
Reel, story and post
safe zones.
The same frame loses different parts on a reel, a story, a post and your profile grid.
Story safe zone
The progress bar, your name and the close button sit at the top, and the reply bar sits at the bottom. The sides are clear, so stories leave more room than reels.
Post and carousel safe zone
The name and buttons sit outside the image, so little covers it. A carousel holds up to 20 slides, all in the shape you pick, and your grid shows the first.
Profile grid crop
Since January 2025 the grid shows tall thumbnails, widely reported as 3:4. A 4:5 post loses 34 px on each side, a square one 135 px, and a reel cover keeps its middle 1080 × 1440.
ORGANIC OR AD
Instagram ad safe zones
need more room.
Switch between Organic and Ad in the checker to see the difference.
Meta asks advertisers to leave “14% of the top, 35% of the bottom, and 6% on each side” of a 9:16 ad free of text and logos, so nothing is “covered by the profile icon or call-to-action”. Its diagram also keeps a block clear at the bottom right, 21% wide and 40% tall, where the buttons sit. If a Reels ad carries a disclaimer, the clear area at the bottom grows to 40%.
The same zone now applies to Stories ads and to 9:16 video ads in the feed. In Ads Manager, the Safe zone guardrail draws it over your ad. If one video runs both as a post and as an ad, design for the ad.
CROSS-POSTING
One safe zone for Reels,
TikTok and Shorts.
Pick Cross-post in the checker to see all three outlines at once.
TikTok and YouTube publish their own ad safe zones, and each covers a different side. TikTok keeps 120 px clear on both sides and a 300 px strip of buttons on the right from 840 px down. YouTube keeps 192 px clear on the right, all the way up. The area that’s clear on every one runs from 120 to 888 px across and from 288 to 1248 px down, minus TikTok’s buttons at the lower right.
THE TEXT CHECK
A safe zone check
that names each line.
Most checkers draw an overlay and leave the rest to you.
The checker looks for burned-in text, like a hook or subtitles, and compares each line with the zones for the format you picked. For every covered line it names what covers it and the smallest move that clears it, checked against the other zones so the fix doesn’t land somewhere new. For a video, Check 12 moments samples the whole clip and lists the moments where text is covered.
All of it happens on your device, with no upload and no account. It can miss small or faint text, and a busy pattern can look like words, so glance at the lines it shows you.
WHY GUIDES DISAGREE
Why the numbers online
don’t match.
Bottom margins online run anywhere from 280 px to 672 px.
Most of that spread comes from three habits: TikTok’s numbers relabelled as Instagram’s, Meta’s ad zone applied to organic reels, and a 20% bottom margin for Stories that guides attribute to Meta’s older guidance, where Meta’s current pages say 35%. Even the “Guide to Instagram sizes, 2026 updates” post that search results show near the top is an agency’s carousel, not Instagram’s.
Instagram’s own guide to Reels, posted on September 28, 2026, says to “position your text anywhere on screen”. So we’re measuring the organic zones ourselves, with a ruler frame posted from a test account and photographed on real phones. Until those numbers are in, the checker’s organic view is marked preliminary.
TEMPLATES
Safe zone overlay templates
for your editor.
Transparent PNGs at full size, for every placement, with a README that lists every number and its source.
- 1
Download
Pick where the video or image will go and download that overlay, or every overlay in one ZIP.
- 2
Put it on top
Add the PNG as the top layer in CapCut, Canva, Premiere Pro, Final Cut, DaVinci Resolve or Instagram’s Edits app, stretched to the full frame.
- 3
Hide it to export
Keep text, faces and logos inside the green dashed area, then hide or delete the overlay before you export.
Reel Maker keeps your words on screen
It lays out your subtitles and on-screen text inside a safe box clear of Instagram’s buttons, and makes the type smaller when a line runs long, so nothing ends up under the caption.
Questions?
What is the Instagram safe zone?+
It is the part of a reel, story or post that Instagram’s buttons, caption and crop don’t cover. Text, faces and logos inside it stay visible to everyone who watches.
What are the safe zone sizes for Instagram Reels?+
For ads, Meta asks you to keep the top 14% (269 px), the bottom 35% (672 px) and 6% (65 px) on each side of a 1080 × 1920 reel clear, plus a block at the bottom right 21% wide and 40% tall. For organic reels Instagram publishes no numbers. Until our measurements on real phones are in, the checker’s organic view uses preliminary ones: 220 px at the top, 450 px at the bottom and a 135 px column of buttons on the right from 1000 px down.
What is the safe area for Instagram Reels in 2026?+
For a Reels ad, the middle 950 × 979 px of a 1080 × 1920 frame: from 269 px to 1248 px down and 65 px in from each side, minus a 162 × 96 px corner at its bottom right. The checker draws the safe area as a green box, for organic reels and for ads.
What is the safe zone for Instagram Stories?+
Meta now gives Stories ads the same zone as Reels ads: 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side. Some guides still say 20% at the bottom; Meta’s current pages say 35%. For organic stories, the checker’s preliminary numbers are 250 px at the top and 250 px at the bottom.
What is the 4:5 safe zone for Instagram posts?+
A 4:5 post is 1080 × 1350 px. Profile grids show tall thumbnails, widely reported as 3:4, which keep the middle 1012 × 1350, so keep text at least 34 px, ideally 50 px, from the left and right edges. Instagram draws only small icons over the image itself: a tag icon at the bottom left, and a slide counter at the top right of a carousel.
What are safe zones in Meta video ads?+
They are the parts of a 9:16 ad Meta asks you to keep clear of text and logos: 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% on each side, and the bottom 40% if the ad has a disclaimer. They apply to Reels, Stories and 9:16 video in the feed. Turn on the Safe zone guardrail in Ads Manager to see them on your ad.
Do Reels, TikTok and Shorts share a safe zone?+
No. TikTok keeps more clear on the sides and a wider strip of buttons on the right, and YouTube keeps 192 px clear down the whole right side. The area that’s clear on all three is 120 to 888 px across and 288 to 1248 px down, minus TikTok’s buttons below 840 px on the right.
Can it check a whole video?+
Yes. Drop the video and select Check 12 moments. The checker pulls 12 frames from across the clip, finds the text in each, and lists the moments where a line is covered. Select a moment to jump there, or download all 12 as one image for your editor.
Is my image or video uploaded?+
No. The checker reads your file in your browser and draws on it there. Nothing is sent to HandlePilot or stored.
Something else on your mind? Ask us anything
By Victor Metelskiy, founder of HandlePilot. Updated October 25, 2026
Keep every word
on screen.
HandlePilot plans your reels, writes them in your tone of voice,
and edits them with your text clear of Instagram’s buttons.