Trial Reels are videos that Instagram first shows only to people who don't follow you. Your followers don't see them, and they don't appear on your profile grid. The Reel lives in recommendations, so every view is a new person who might follow you.
Since October 2026 you can post trial Reels through Craft — right away or on a schedule, just like a regular post.
A regular Reel goes to your followers first. If they don't engage, the video barely travels further, and your profile reach drops too. A trial Reel skips that step and goes straight to a new audience.
That gives you two advantages:
The simplest strategy: take your Reels that already went viral and post them again — as trials. Your followers have seen them; people in recommendations haven't. Followers don't get a repeat, and new people see a proven hit.
How to do it in Craft: upload the video file in the publishing window, turn on Trial Reel and pick a date. You can spread several old hits across the calendar at once — Craft posts them for you.
It's better to refresh the video a little: a new caption, a new cover, new first seconds. That way it reads as new, and you also learn which opening works better.
Film one video and make two or three openings: a different first line, a different first frame, different on-screen text. Post them all as trials. A day later Instagram shows which one got more views and shares — share that one with your followers.
Want to try a different topic or format, but worried followers won't get it and reach will drop? Post it as a trial. If it works, share it with everyone and build on the topic. If not, none of your followers noticed.
Trial Reels don't clutter your followers' feed, so you can post them more often than regular ones. Schedule a trial Reel in Craft for every day of the week ahead — a steady stream of new people seeing you for the first time.
Craft offers two modes for a trial Reel:
Step by step, with answers to common questions — in the help center.
It's an Instagram feature, and not everyone has it. You need a public professional account (business or creator) that can appear in recommendations, with at least 200 followers. If you don't have the feature, we can't use it.
Craft checks your follower count and warns you if it's low. Instagram doesn't share the rest in advance: if it declines the trial Reel, the post won't go out and the publishing feed shows why. Craft never posts a regular Reel instead of a trial — the video won't reach your followers without your decision.
About a day after posting, the Reel in the Instagram app shows views, likes, comments and shares, and Instagram compares it with your previous trials. Look beyond views: if people send the Reel to friends, that's the strongest sign it can take off with your followers too.
Reels that Instagram first shows only to people who don't follow you. Followers see the Reel only after you or Instagram share it with everyone.
Yes. In Craft a trial Reel is scheduled like a regular post: right away or for a specific date and time.
Yes. Upload the video file to Craft, turn on Trial Reel and publish. Your followers won't see a repeat, and new people will see it for the first time.
Most likely Instagram hasn't enabled trial Reels for your account yet: you need a public professional account with at least 200 followers that can appear in recommendations. The reason is shown in the Craft publishing feed.
No, not until the Reel is shared with everyone. The exception is when someone sends it to a follower in DMs.