Drop a Reel or Story frame and see which parts sit under Instagram's interface and outside the 4:5 feed crop. Adjust the margins, then download the checked frame or a blank template. Nothing is uploaded.
- Covered by the Instagram interface
- Safe zone
- 4:5 feed and grid crop
- 1:1 crop
No frame yet: the overlay is drawn on a placeholder so you can see the zones.
How it works
The checker draws your frame on a 1080 x 1920 canvas (cropping to 9:16 if it is another shape), then shades the areas the Instagram interface covers: the top bar, the caption and audio block at the bottom, and, for Reels, the action buttons down the right edge. Dashed outlines show the 4:5 crop the feed and profile grid apply to a Reel preview and, optionally, the 1:1 crop. Anything in the clear area with the green outline is safe.
- Check for switches between the Reel and Story interfaces and resets the margins to the typical values for each.
- Margins are editable, because the exact pixels vary with the phone, the caption length, and the app version.
- Download checked frame saves the frame with the overlays; Download blank template saves just the overlays on a transparent 1080 x 1920 PNG for use as a layer in your editor.
Everything runs locally. Your frame is never uploaded and there is no signup.
What you will see
- Covered areas
- Shaded bands where the Reels or Story interface sits: top bar, bottom caption and audio block, right action rail.
- Safe zone
- The green-outlined area that stays visible under the interface. Keep faces, text, and calls to action inside it.
- 4:5 feed and grid crop
- The centred 1080 x 1350 area shown when the Reel appears in the feed or on the profile grid.
- 1:1 crop
- The centred 1080 x 1080 area used by a few square placements.
- Overlay opacity
- How strongly the covered areas are shaded, so you can still read what sits under them.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Instagram Reels safe zone?
The part of a 1080 x 1920 Reel that stays visible once Instagram draws its interface over the video: the profile bar and camera icon at the top, the username, caption, and audio pill at the bottom, and the like, comment, share, and more buttons down the right edge. Text, faces, and logos placed under those areas get hidden, so the safe zone is where the important content should sit.
What are the safe zone measurements for Reels and Stories?
The defaults here are the commonly recommended margins on a 1080 x 1920 canvas: for Reels about 220 px at the top, 420 px at the bottom, and a 130 px rail on the right; for Stories about 250 px at the top (profile bar) and 250 px at the bottom (reply bar). Meta's own advertising guidance is more conservative, asking for roughly the top 14% and bottom 35% of a Reel to stay free of text and logos. The margins are editable, so tighten or loosen them to match your own screenshots.
Why does the checker also show a 4:5 crop?
Because a Reel is not always shown full screen. In the home feed and on the profile grid the cover and preview are cropped to 4:5 (and to 1:1 in a few older placements), taking the middle of the frame. If a title sits in the top or bottom band it disappears in those views, so the dashed 4:5 and 1:1 outlines mark what survives the crop.
Can I check a video, not just an image?
Not directly: the checker takes an image. Export the cover frame or take a screenshot of the frame you care about (the one with your title or call to action) and drop that in. Since the interface sits in the same place for the whole video, one frame tells you what you need.
How do I use the blank template?
Download the template PNG (the overlays on a transparent background), drop it as the top layer in your editing app at 1080 x 1920, and design underneath it. Hide the layer before exporting. It is a quick way to keep every Reel and Story inside the safe zone without checking each one.
My text falls in a covered area. What now?
Move it into the safe area and re-export, or shrink the whole design toward the centre. If the source is a photo that needs cropping to 9:16 first, the Instagram Image Resizer crops to 1080 x 1920 with a crop focus so the subject lands in the middle.
Is my image uploaded anywhere?
No. The frame is drawn and checked on a canvas in your browser, the downloads are generated there too, and nothing is sent to a server. There is no signup and no watermark.
Which resolution should a Reel or Story be?
1080 x 1920 pixels (9:16). Instagram will scale other sizes, but designing at 1080 x 1920 keeps text crisp and makes the safe margins predictable. The checker cover-fits whatever you drop in to that canvas, so a differently shaped image is cropped to 9:16 before the overlay is drawn.