Instagram’s Sharing to Reels feature opens access to all apps

Meta has announced that its Sharing to Reels feature for mobile apps is now available to all developers, making it easier for third-party apps to publish videos to its platform. 

Instagram has been testing this option on a limited alpha test in collaboration with a few apps like Reface, Smule, VivaVideo and more since last November. The company had planned to expand the test to more partners in 2023 but did not give a specific time frame.

With this new update, users can now share videos to reels by clicking a button. Previously users would export videos from third-party apps to the device before uploading them. The feature will simplify and save time when it comes to sharing content.

Users can edit their videos on third-party apps before uploading them to Instagram reels. The edited video can be shared to Instagram and users would be led to the camera. Users can customize with audio, effects, voiceover, and stickers and add/record additional clips. Users can tap 'Next' to add the caption, hashtags, and location, or tag others, then tap 'Share' to publish.

Meta says that Smule saw a 150% increase in shared content, which helped it earn more organic traffic after implementing the feature. However, the platform hasn't shared any similar metrics for its other alpha test partners.