How to remove or disable reels on Facebook app?
Facebook is doing all it can to compete against YouTube Shorts and Tiktok. That’s why they pushed reels on Facebook after introducing them to Instagram.
There are reels everywhere. First, there’s a Reels tab beside Stories at the beginning. Then while you keep scrolling, you can find annoying Reels and short videos around your feed.
Unfortunately, there’s only one way to disable reels altogether from Facebook if you use Facebook Lite. At first, they weren’t available on the web version of Facebook. You can hide reels to see fewer reels like those shown or a specific reel.
Use Facebook Lite To Disable Reels
Facebook Lite is the lightweight version of Facebook. It’s designed for those who have a poor network connection. It has fundamental features. It’s hard to watch videos with a poor network signal. Fortunately, reels are not included in Facebook lite.
So, if you want to avoid watching reels altogether, this is your only option. Otherwise, you have to keep hiding the reels you don’t like.
Stop Auto-Playing Reels
You can stop auto-playing on your feed so that reels won’t play until you click the play button.
By default, auto-play is on for videos. You can turn it off manually from Profile settings.
Here’s how:
- Launch the Facebook app on your smartphone.
- Click on the hamburger menu icon.
- Scroll down and click on Settings & privacy.
- Now tap on Settings.
- Click on Profile settings.
- Scroll down and click on Media and contacts.
- Tap on Autoplay.
- Select Never Autoplay Videos.
Hide A Reel
Though you can’t remove the reels section from your Facebook app, you can remove any specific reel from your feed.
Here’s how:
- Open the Facebook app on your device.
- Tap on the reel you want to remove.
- Click on the … icon at the bottom right corner of the reel.
- Click on Hide reel from the menu bar.
Hide similar reels
There’s a Reels and short videos section on your timeline that shows various reels. Only some of the reels are interesting to users, and you may want to see fewer reels like those.
Here’s how to see fewer reels:
- Open the Facebook app on your smartphone.
- Scroll down and find the Reels and short videos section on your app.
- Click on the … icon.
- Now tap on Hide.
Weirdly, you can’t turn off reels. Facebook won’t let you turn it off forever, as YouTube won’t let you hide Shorts permanently.
It’s a feature aimed at competing against TikTok and engaging more users. So, either you use Facebook lite or keep hiding reels whenever they appear on your timeline.