Instagram Sharing to Reels From iOS

This document shows you how to integrate sharing into your iOS app so that users can share video content to Reels on Instagram.

Overview

Reels Layers

The Reels composer has a background video layer and an optional sticker layer.

Background Video Layer – A video fills the screen
Sticker Layer – An optional sticker can appear in front of the video

Sharing Icon

For a consistent user experience across apps, download the standard sharing icon for Instagram Reels and use it in your app.

Before You Start

You will need:

A Meta app ID
You must Go Live with your Meta app before your app users can share content

Terms and Policies

By accessing and using this functionality, you acknowledge and agree to be bound by the Meta Platform Terms and Developer Policies. You also represent and warrant that any content made available through your application or website, or shared to Instagram Reels from your application or website, does not infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party and that you own, control or have otherwise secured all rights necessary to distribute, copy, publicly perform and display, or otherwise use the content via this functionality, including as uploaded and shared on Instagram Reels. You further represent and warrant that you have the authority to make the foregoing representations on behalf of your organization. If you do not have such authority or are otherwise unable to make the foregoing representations, you are not authorized to continue and should not do so.

Configure Your App for Sharing

Before you can implement sharing in your app, add your app ID and register Instagram's custom URL scheme in the Info.plist file for your app. Add instagram-reels to the LSApplicationQueriesSchemes key.

Implement Sharing to Instagram

You use a custom URL scheme to launch the Instagram app and send it content for Reels. The Instagram app receives the content, loads it in the Reels composer, and the user can edit and publish the content to their Instagram Reels.

In general, your sharing flow does the following:

Verify that your app can resolve Instagram's custom URL scheme.
Attach content to the pasteboard that you want to share.
Resolve the custom URL scheme if your app is able to.

Remove any temporary files that you create on the user's device.

Data

You send the following data when you share to Reels.

Data	Type	Description	Required
Meta App ID	NSString *	Your Meta App ID	Yes
Background Video	NSURL *	The URL for a video. Videos can be 1080p and should be between 3 and 60 seconds in duration. Acceptable video formats are H.264, H.265, and WebM. Under 50 MB is recommended.	Yes
Sticker Asset	NSURL *	The URL for an image that is a local file on the user's device. Acceptable image formats are JPG and PNG, and the recommended dimensions are 640 x 480. The image appears over the video.	No

Code Examples

The following Swift and Objective C code examples show how to send a single image or video, how to send multiple images or videos, and how to send images or videos with a sticker.

Example with One Media File

The following code example sends a file to Instagram so the user can edit and publish it to their Instagram Reels.

func shareBackgroundVideo() {
    // Identify your App ID
    let appIDString = "1234567890"

    // Identify your video content
    guard let backgroundVideoURL = URL(string: "your-video-url-goes-here") else { return }
    guard let backgroundVideoData = try? Data.init(contentsOf: backgroundVideoURL) as Data else { return }
        
    // Call method to share video
    backgroundVideo(backgroundVideoData: backgroundVideoData, appID: appIDString)
}
    
// Method to share video
func backgroundVideo(backgroundVideoData: Data, appID: String) {
    if let urlScheme = URL(string: "instagram-reels://share"), UIApplication.shared.canOpenURL(urlScheme) {
        // Add background video and appID to pasteboard items
        let pasteboardItems: [[String: Any]] = [
            ["com.instagram.sharedSticker.backgroundVideo": backgroundVideoData],
            ["com.instagram.sharedSticker.appID": appID]
        ]
            
        // Set pasteboard options
        let pasteboardOptions = [UIPasteboard.OptionsKey.expirationDate: Date().addingTimeInterval(60 * 5)]
            
        // Attach the pasteboard items
        UIPasteboard.general.setItems(pasteboardItems, options: pasteboardOptions)

        UIApplication.shared.open(urlScheme)
            
    } else {
        // Handle error cases
    }
}

- (void)shareBackgroundVideo
{
  // Identify your App ID
  NSString *const appIDString = @"1234567890";

  // Identify your video content
  NSURL *const backgroundVideoURL = [[NSBundle bundleForClass:[self class]]URLForResource:@"your-video-url-goes-here" withExtension:@"mp4"];
  NSData *const backgroundVideoData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:backgroundVideoURL];

  // Call method to share video
  [self backgroundVideo: backgroundVideoData
        appID: appIDString];
}


// Method to share video
- (void)backgroundVideo:(NSData *)backgroundVideo 
        appID:(NSString *)appID
{
  NSURL *urlScheme = [NSURL URLWithString:@"instagram-reels://share"];

  if ([[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL:urlScheme])
  {
    // Add background video and appID to pasteboard items
    NSArray *pasteboardItems = @[@{@"com.instagram.sharedSticker.backgroundVideo" : backgroundVideo,
                                   @"com.instagram.sharedSticker.appID" : appID}];

    // Set pasteboard options
    NSDictionary *pasteboardOptions = @{UIPasteboardOptionExpirationDate : [[NSDate date] dateByAddingTimeInterval:60 * 5]};

    // Attach the pasteboard items
    // This call is iOS 10+, can use 'setItems' depending on what versions you support
    [[UIPasteboard generalPasteboard] setItems:pasteboardItems options:pasteboardOptions];
        
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:urlScheme options:@{} completionHandler:nil];
  } 
  else
  {
     // Handle error cases
  }
}

Example With Sticker

The following code example sends a video to Instagram, and includes an optional sticker, so the user can edit and publish it to their Instagram Reels.

func shareBackgroundVideoWithSticker() {
    // Identify your App ID
    let appIDString = "1234567890"
        
    // Identify your video content
    guard let backgroundVideoURL = URL(string: "your-video-url-goes-here") else { return }
    guard let backgroundVideoData = try? Data.init(contentsOf: backgroundVideoURL) as Data else { return }
        
    // Identify your sticker content
    guard let stickerImage = URL(string: "your-sticker-url-goes-here") else { return }
    guard let stickerImageData = try? Data.init(contentsOf: stickerImage) as Data else { return }
        
    // Call method to share video
    backgroundVideoWithSticker(backgroundVideoData: backgroundVideoData, stickerImageData: stickerImageData, appID: appIDString)
}
    
// Method to share video with sticker
func backgroundVideoWithSticker(backgroundVideoData: Data, stickerImageData: Data, appID: String) {
    if let urlScheme = URL(string: "instagram-reels://share"), UIApplication.shared.canOpenURL(urlScheme) {
        // Add background video, sticker, and appID to pasteboard items
        let pasteboardItems: [[String: Any]] = [
            ["com.instagram.sharedSticker.backgroundVideo": backgroundVideoData],
            ["com.instagram.sharedSticker.stickerImage": stickerImageData],
            ["com.instagram.sharedSticker.appID": appID]
        ]
            
        // Set pasteboard options
        let pasteboardOptions = [UIPasteboard.OptionsKey.expirationDate: Date().addingTimeInterval(60 * 5)]
            
        // Attach the pasteboard items
        UIPasteboard.general.setItems(pasteboardItems, options: pasteboardOptions)
        
        UIApplication.shared.open(urlScheme)
            
    } else {
        // Handle error cases
    }
}

- (void)shareBackgroundVideoWithSticker
{
  // Identify your App ID
  NSString *const appIDString = @"1234567890";

  // Identify your video content
  NSURL *const backgroundVideoURL = [[NSBundle bundleForClass:[self class]]URLForResource:@"your-video-url-goes-here" withExtension:@"mp4"];
  NSData *const backgroundVideoData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:backgroundVideoURL];

  // Identify your sticker content
  NSURL *const stickerImageURL = [[NSBundle bundleForClass:[self class]]URLForResource:@"your-sticker-url-goes-here" withExtension:@"png"];
  NSData *const stickerImageData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:stickerImageURL];

  // Call method to share video
  [self backgroundVideoWithSticker: backgroundVideoData 
        stickerImage: stickerImageData 
        appID: appIDString];
}


// Method to share video with sticker
- (void)backgroundVideoWithSticker:(NSData *)backgroundVideo
		             stickerImage:(NSData *)stickerImage
        		     appID:(NSString *)appID
{
  NSURL *urlScheme = [NSURL URLWithString:@"instagram-reels://share"];

  if ([[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL:urlScheme])
  {
    // Add background video, sticker, and appID to pasteboard items
    NSArray *pasteboardItems = @[@{@"com.instagram.sharedSticker.backgroundVideo" : backgroundVideo,
				   @"com.instagram.sharedSticker.stickerImage" : stickerImage,
                                   @"com.instagram.sharedSticker.appID" : appID}];

    // Set pasteboard options
    NSDictionary *pasteboardOptions = @{UIPasteboardOptionExpirationDate : [[NSDate date] dateByAddingTimeInterval:60 * 5]};

    // Attach the pasteboard items
    // This call is iOS 10+, can use 'setItems' depending on what versions you support
    [[UIPasteboard generalPasteboard] setItems:pasteboardItems options:pasteboardOptions];
        
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:urlScheme options:@{} completionHandler:nil];
  } 
  else
  {
     // Handle error cases
  }
}

GitHub Sample and Video Tutorial

To make it more convenient for developers, Meta has published sample code for Instagram Share to Reels on GitHub at fbsamples/share_to_reels_ios. Watch the following video to learn how to use the GitHub Sample.

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