If you’ve been using Instagram Reels for a while, you’ve probably run into the long-standing A/B test that can’t seem to decide between a pause or a mute action when you tap on the screen. Finally, though, Instagram has settled this once and for all.
As of this week, tapping on an Instagram Reel will pause the video, rather than mute it. This is the behavior most people have been seeing for the past year or so, but the back and forth has finally come to an end.
You can also tap a mute icon above the play/pause button to easily mute the video rather than lowering the volume of your phone as a whole.
While having mute at the ready could be handy in a lot of cases, play/pause on a tap is arguably more useful. It also better aligns with YouTube Shorts and TikTok, which use a tap to pause.
Again, Instagram has rolled out this behavior to most users over the past year or so, but it’s now officially the one that the app has settled on.
More on Instagram:
- Meta is killing end-to-end encryption for Instagram DMs soon
- Instagram app launches on Google TV with Reels on the big screen [Gallery]
- Instagramâs Reels-first redesign might get a customizable âYour feedsâ [Video]
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