The ‘Sharing to Reels’ feature on Instagram is now available to all app developers

Meta has announced that its own Sharing to Reels widget for mobile apps is now accessible to all developers, after TikTok’s announcement of a new developer-facing tool, Direct Post, that streamlines the process for third-party apps to upload movies to its network. Similar to TikTok’s Direct Post, Meta’s Sharing to Reels aims to increase content production for its short-form video platform and TikTok rival by utilising a larger ecosystem of video editing tools.

Last November, a small alpha test of the Sharing to Reels connection was made available with a variety of app developers as partners, including Lightricks (Videoleap), Reface, Smule, VivaVideo, SNOW, B612, VITA, and Zoomerang. When the test was first announced, the business stated that it would be expanded to include more partners in 2023, but it did not provide a precise date.

Any app that wants to offer an integration that will let their users easily export their movies to Instagram Reels by hitting a button may now do so thanks to Sharing to Reels. Before, users had to download the video from the third-party app to their computer before uploading it again to Instagram Reels.

When ready to share their completed video, users must press the share button in the third-party app before tapping the Instagram Reels symbol. They can then continue to edit their reel using audio, effects, voiceover, and stickers in the Instagram Camera. Additionally, they can film or upload new clips to supplement their current video. Users tap “Next” to add the caption, hashtags, location, or other tags before tapping “Share” to publish their upload.

Early adopter Smule saw a 150% boost in content sharing, according to Meta, which helped it improve organic traffic after adding the feature. However, Smule did not provide any comparable figures for its other alpha test partners. However, it praised the feature’s ease and time-saving features and mentioned that users’ exported reels will be viewable through public recommendations on Instagram’s Reels and Explore tabs, providing more exposure. Users can also share their content through direct messages and Stories, as Meta pointed out.

A similar interface is available from the company for posting video directly to Facebook Reels from other apps, which was released last year.

However, Meta did not make any announcements regarding the inclusion of any new partners with this increased accessibility – it is merely granting access to developers who are interested.

However, in the instance of TikTok’s Direct Post, the business had worked with a number of well-known applications, including some that allowed AI editing, such as Adobe’s AI-powered video editing suite Premiere Pro and its AI creation app Adobe Express. Twitch, SocialPilot, and ByteDance’s CapCut were more Direct Post partners.