How to Share a Reel to Your Story on Instagram (and What to Do When You Can't)

Short answer: open the reel, tap the paper plane (share) icon, then tap Add to story. Customise it if you want, then tap Your story. It works the same for your own reels and for other people's, but only in the Instagram mobile app, and only when the reel is eligible.

The part most guides skip: the Add to story option is conditional. It appears only when the reel comes from a public account and that account has left resharing switched on. If either is false, the option is not hidden behind a setting on your side. It simply is not in the menu, and nothing you do to your own account will bring it back.

Jump to: Can you share this reel at all - Someone else's reel - Your own reel - Add to story is missing - What it looks like - Add to story vs Repost - Desktop - FAQ

Can you share this reel at all

Four conditions decide it, and all four have to hold at once.

1. The account is public. Content from a private account cannot be reshared to a story by anyone, including approved followers. Following the account does not unlock it.
2. The creator has left resharing enabled. Instagram gives account holders a switch that stops other people adding their posts and reels to a story. Turning it off removes the option from everyone else's share sheet. In current builds it sits in Settings and activity under the sharing and reuse controls, historically labelled Allow resharing to stories (older builds: Settings > Privacy > Story). Instagram moves this menu often, so search the settings screen for "reshar" rather than following a fixed path.
3. The reel was not posted to Close Friends only. Close Friends content is never reshareable.
4. You are in the mobile app. instagram.com in a desktop browser has no native Story composer at all, so there is no Add to story to tap.

There is a fifth condition people meet without realising: music and audio rights. A reel's audio can be licensed for one surface and not another, and licensing is regional and account-type dependent. Business and professional accounts get a smaller music library than personal accounts, which is why the same reel can be fully shareable for one person and come through with muted or missing audio for another. When this bites, the reel usually still shares, it just loses the sound.

Share someone else's reel to your story

1. Open the reel in the feed, in Reels, or on Explore.
2. Tap the paper plane icon on the right side of the reel.
3. Tap Add to story in the share sheet.
4. The reel drops onto a story canvas as a tappable clip. Resize it, move it, and add text, stickers, a poll, or a question sticker around it.
5. Tap Your story to publish.

Adding an @mention of the creator is optional. The clip already carries their username and links back to their reel. A mention is a courtesy, not a requirement, and it does not change how the clip behaves.

Share your own reel to your story

Yes, you can add your own reel to your story after you have already posted it, and there is no time limit on doing so. Your account being private does not block this. Privacy only stops other people resharing you.

1. Go to your profile and open the Reels tab.
2. Tap the reel.
3. Tap the paper plane icon, or the three dots menu, then Add to story.
4. Customise and tap Your story.

Instagram also offers an Add to story prompt immediately after a reel finishes uploading. Skipping it costs you nothing, the option stays available afterwards. If you want the reel to keep circulating past the 24 hour story window, save that story to a Highlight. For how long a story clip runs before it splits, see our Instagram story length guide.

Why the Add to story option is missing

This is the actual question behind most searches on this topic. Work down the ladder in order. The first three causes account for nearly everything, and none of them are fixable by clearing your cache.

Step 1: check the creator's account. Open their profile. If you see "This account is private", stop. There is no workaround, no setting, no app version that adds the option. Screen recording and reuploading is not resharing, it is republishing someone else's video without permission.

Step 2: test with a different reel from a different public account. Open any large public account's reel and check whether Add to story appears there. If it does, the original creator has resharing switched off and the problem is not on your end. This single test separates "the creator blocked it" from "my app is broken", and it takes ten seconds.

Step 3: check whether it was posted to Close Friends. A green ring or a Close Friends label means it will never offer resharing.

Step 4: only now suspect your app. If Add to story is missing on every reel including ones from huge public accounts, you have a client problem or a rollout gap. In order: force close and reopen Instagram, update from the App Store or Play Store, restart the device, then sign out and back in. Reinstalling is last, and it is rarely what fixes it.

Step 5: consider your own account standing. Accounts with recent community guideline strikes can lose sharing surfaces temporarily, usually without an explanation in the app. Check Account Status in settings before assuming a bug.

Step 6: rollout and region. Instagram ships sharing features to regions and cohorts at different times, and A/B tests routinely remove menu items for a slice of users for weeks. If nothing above applies, waiting is a legitimate answer.

A note on sourcing: Instagram's help centre pages on resharing do not render readable text to a desktop browser, so none of the above can be quoted from official documentation. These behaviours are consistently reported and consistently reproducible in the app, but Instagram does not publish a definitive list.

What a reshared reel looks like in your story

A reshared reel is not a copy of the video. It is a clip, a preview that sits on your story canvas with the creator's username on it, and tapping it opens the original reel.

• The story shows a short preview, not the full reel. Long reels are cut off in the story frame.
• Views, likes, comments, and shares registered by anyone who taps through land on the original reel, not on you.
• The story expires after 24 hours like any other story unless you add it to a Highlight.
• If the creator deletes the reel, or switches their account to private, the clip in your story stops working.
• Whether the creator is notified is unclear. Reshares commonly surface in the original poster's activity feed, but Instagram does not document this, and notification behaviour has changed more than once. Treat resharing as visible and attributable, and do not rely on a notification firing.

If you want the reel itself on your own profile rather than a link back to someone else's, that is a different job, covered in how to repost Instagram reels.

Add to story vs the Repost button

Since August 2025 Instagram has had a dedicated Repost button, announced by Meta alongside the Friends feed and Friend Map. It is not the same action as adding a reel to your story, and mixing the two up is the most common confusion on this topic now.

Meta's own announcement states you can "repost public reels and feed posts", that reposts sit in "a separate tab on your profile", and that they are "credited to the original poster". Use Repost when you want the content to keep working for you, and Add to story when you want a quick, expiring reaction.

Sharing a reel to story from a desktop browser

You cannot. instagram.com lets you watch reels, send them in DMs, and post feed content, but it has no native Story composer, so there is no path to Add to story on desktop. The usual workaround is to open developer tools, switch the browser to a mobile viewport, and reload, which exposes the mobile story uploader. It is unreliable, and stickers, music, and link stickers are typically unavailable in that mode.

If desktop story publishing is a regular need rather than a one-off, a scheduler is the honest answer. See posting Instagram stories from a PC and scheduling Instagram stories. If you are on the other side of this and want to control who can reshare you, our Instagram privacy settings guide covers the reshare and remix switches.

Frequently asked questions

How do I share someone else's reel to my story?

Open the reel, tap the paper plane icon on the right side, then tap Add to story. The reel is placed on a story canvas as a tappable clip that you can resize and decorate with text and stickers. Tap Your story to publish. This only works in the Instagram mobile app.

Why is the Add to story option missing on a reel?

Almost always because the reel is not eligible rather than because your app is broken. The account is private, the creator has switched off resharing to stories, or the reel was posted to Close Friends only. Test with a reel from a large public account: if Add to story appears there, the restriction is on the original creator's side and nothing on your end will change it.

Can I share a reel from a private account to my story?

No. Reels from private accounts cannot be reshared to a story by anyone, including approved followers. Following the account does not unlock the option. The only legitimate route is asking the creator to send you the video directly or to make the reel public.

Can I add my own reel to my story after posting it?

Yes, at any time. Open your profile, go to the Reels tab, tap the reel, then use the paper plane icon or the three dots menu and choose Add to story. A private account does not block this. Privacy settings only prevent other people from resharing your content.

Does the creator get notified when I share their reel to my story?

Reshares commonly appear in the original poster's activity feed with your username, but Instagram does not document this behaviour and it has changed more than once. Treat resharing as visible and attributable rather than assuming a notification is guaranteed either way.

Why does a reel I shared to my story have no sound?

Audio rights. Music licensing on Instagram varies by region and by account type, and professional or business accounts have access to a smaller music library than personal accounts. When a reel's track is not licensed for your surface, the clip still shares but the audio is muted or unavailable.

Can I share a reel to my story from a computer?

No. Instagram's web version has no native Story composer, so there is no Add to story option on desktop. Some people force a mobile viewport in browser developer tools to reach the story uploader, but it is unreliable and stickers, music, and link stickers are usually missing. Use the phone app or a scheduling tool instead.

Building the reels you actually want to reshare is the harder half. Our Instagram tools cover hashtags, captions, and formatting, and how to schedule Instagram reels covers getting them out on a schedule instead of by hand.