I’ve watched so many reels and then wanted to see one again, only to realize I couldn’t find it anywhere. It used to be frustrating because Instagram never had a proper history feature.
But recently, Instagram finally introduced a Watch History option that lets you see the reels you’ve watched before. No more scrolling for hours or hoping the same reel pops up again.
In this guide, I’ll show you how to use this feature and find your recently watched reels easily. The steps are simple, and once you know where to look, it only takes a few seconds.
How to See the Reels You Viewed on Instagram
Instagram now makes it easy to find the reels you’ve already watched.
Step 1: Open the Instagram app on your phone.
Step 2: Go to your profile by tapping your profile icon in the bottom-right corner.
Step 3: Tap the three lines (≡) in the top-right corner.
Step 4: Select Your activity.
Step 5: Tap Watch history.
Instagram will now show all the reels you you’ve watched in the past 30 days.You can tap any reel to watch it again.
Note: It doesn’t show posts or photos you’ve viewed.
You can also apply a filter to make watching history easier to explore. You can sort reels by Newest to Oldest or Oldest to Newest, choose a specific date range, or filter by Authors if you want to find reels from a particular creator. These filters make it much faster to locate a reel without scrolling through everything.
How to Clear Watch History
If you want to remove certain reels from your watch history, you can do it manually.
Step 1: Open Watch history.
Step 2: Tap Select in the top right corner.
Step 3: Now choose the reels you want to remove and tap Remove at the bottom.
Step 4: Instagram will show a confirmation pop-up – tap Remove again to finish.
At the moment, Instagram does not allow you to clear your entire watch history in one go. You can only delete reels individually or in batches using the select option.
Can Others See Your Watch History?
No, other people cannot see your watch history on Instagram. The reels you watch are private and are only visible to you. Instagram does not share this information with your followers or anyone else. Even if you watch a reel multiple times, it won’t show up anywhere publicly.
The only time your activity becomes visible is if you like, comment, share, or follow the creator — those actions are public. Simply watching a reel stays completely private. So you don’t need to worry about anyone checking what you’ve viewed.
Things to Know About Watch History
There are a few useful things to know about Instagram’s Watch History feature. The history only shows reels you watched within the last 30 days, so older reels won’t appear in the list. Also, the list may take a moment to update, so a reel you just watched might not show up instantly.
Your watch history is completely private – only you can see it. Removing a reel from the list doesn’t notify the creator and doesn’t affect your account. And for now, Instagram doesn’t offer a one-click clear option, so you have to remove reels manually by selecting them.
