Instagram is introducing new social features to make sharing content more personal and interactive, while still letting users control their privacy. These updates include the ability to repost Reels, see what friends are engaging with, and even share your last active location on the Instagram Map.
Repost Your Favorite Reels and Feed Posts
Instagram has officially launched a Repost feature that allows users to reshare public Reels and feed posts directly to their profile.
Once reposted, the content appears in your followers’ feeds and gets stored in a dedicated Reposts tab on your profile so you can revisit and manage your reposts with ease.
Each repost credits the original source, which means your content can be surfaced to people who don’t follow you, expanding your reach. This opens up new visibility opportunities for creators and makes discovery more organic.
The newly launched Friends tab in Reels gives users a personalized look at what their close circle is enjoying on Instagram. You’ll be able to see public content your friends have liked, commented on, or shared, as well as recommendations from Blends you’ve joined.
This tab is perfect for starting conversations, discovering trending content within your social circles, and staying updated on what the people you care about most are watching or creating.
To access it, simply tap on “Friends” at the top of Reels and tap “Reels” again to return to your usual feed.
Read: Meta Adds Direct Messages to Instagram Threads
Instagram is also adding new privacy controls for this tab, letting users:
- Hide their own likes and comments on Reels shown in the Friends tab.
- Mute activity bubbles from specific people they follow.
Connect in Real Life With the Instagram Map
Among the standout updates is Instagram Map, a more personal feature that lets you optionally share your last active location.
Location sharing is off by default, and if turned on, users get granular control to:
- Choose to share a location with mutual followers, Close Friends, selected friends, or no one.
- Exclude specific people or locations.
- Turn location sharing on or off at any time.
- Location updates only when the app is opened or brought back from the background.
For parents with supervision features enabled, there’s an added layer of safety. If a teen starts sharing their location, parents receive a notification and can view who the teen is sharing with. They can also control whether location sharing is available at all.
Beyond sharing, the map also shows content your friends and favorite creators are posting from different places. With full rollout now underway globally, users everywhere can start enjoying these experiences.
