Instagram makes it harder to share video clips to TikTok
Instagram seems to have taken a strong stance to discourage users sharing videos created on Reels to TikTok.
In a rather drastic move, Instagram now mutes Reels if you try to download them without posting on Instagram first.
It looks like Insta isn’t happy creators making their videos in Reels just to post them on TikTok.
The muted audio was first noticed by The Verge when they tried to download an edited clip to an iPhone.
We tested it out on an iPhone and Instagram explicitly showed displayed a message asking if we still wanted to save the video with out the audio.
This effectively means that creators cannot use Instagram to edit a video and export the footage to be reused on other apps.
Instagram’s editing tools and features like the green screen are thought to be superior to TikTok. Also, unlike TikTok, it does not include a watermark at the end of the video so users could easily repost their videos.
Now, if you want to save your edited Reel with the audio in tact then you have to actually post the Reel first.
This seems to be a recent update as it was possible to download edited videos with audio even last month.
The Verge reported that Instagram still allowed you to export Reels with audio were on Android but with the notification appearing it looks like the feature is here to stay.
The cheeky update might actually be a good move for Instagram as TikTok’s editing tools are not as user-friendly. So, unless the Chinese video app makes changes there it might actually lose creators to Instagram.
It’s no surprise that Instagram is threatened by TikTok; it even tried to move to a video focused approach which it had to roll back after backlash from users and celebrities like Kylie Jenner.
Just like Netflix has finally decided to take action on its password sharing problem, Instagram started addressing its content-resharing problem back in April.
Instagram had announced tweaks to its ranking algorithm which would highlight original content above reshared content.
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