How to Turn Off Comments on Instagram Reels

Sometimes you just need to post your Reel and move on, without the chaos of a public comments section. Whether you're trying to avoid spam, protect your mental space, or simply want full control over the conversation, turning off comments is a valid and easy-to-use tool. This guide will walk you through exactly how to disable comments on your Instagram Reels, both before you post and on content that's already live.

Why Turn Off Comments on Your Instagram Reels?

While engagement is often the name of the game on social media, there are plenty of strategic and personal reasons to shut down the comment section. It's not about hiding - it's about controlling the narrative and creating the online environment you want for yourself and your audience.

Protecting Your Mental Health and Avoiding Negativity

Let's be real: comments sections can be a jungle. For creators, brands, and individuals alike, they can become a source of stress, filled with spam bots, trolls, harassment, or unsolicited negativity. Managing a constant stream of hateful or low-quality comments is draining. Turning them off on certain posts gives you a much-needed break and allows you to share your content on your own terms, free from the burden of digital noise. For brands, this also helps protect your reputation from being tarnished by spammers or bad actors in your comments.

Focusing the Conversation Elsewhere

Closing the comment section can be a smart marketing move. If your goal is to drive traffic to a specific place - like a product page, a sign-up form, or a blog post - keeping the conversation out of the comments helps. Instead, you can use your caption to direct people to the "link in bio" or invite them to send you a DM for more information. This prevents the primary call-to-action from getting lost in a sea of reactions and discussions, centralizing inquiries where you can manage them most effectively.

Posting Sensitive, Personal, or Final Content

Some content isn't meant for public debate or discussion. Perhaps you're sharing a personal story, a tribute to a loved one, or sensitive company news. In these cases, comments can feel inappropriate or lead to conversations you're not emotionally prepared to handle. Disabling comments respects the nature of the content and creates a space where your message can be received without external interpretation or judgment. It’s also useful for announcements or statements where the message is final and not open for negotiation or debate.

Streamlining Your Community Management Efforts

For accounts with huge followings, engagement can be overwhelming. While interacting with your community is vital, it's not always practical to monitor every single comment on every single post. Social media managers can strategically turn off comments on less critical Reels (like simple announcements or reminders) to funnel engagement towards more important content like Q&A's, major launches, or community-focused posts. This conserves resources, helps you focus your time where it matters most, and prevents your team from getting stretched too thin.

How to Turn Off Comments on a New Reel (Before You Post)

The easiest way to go comment-free is to set it up before your Reel even goes live. Instagram builds this option right into the posting process. Follow these simple steps.

Step 1: Create Your Reel as Usual

Start by recording or uploading your video clips. Add your trending audio, fun effects, text overlays, and anything else that makes your Reel uniquely yours. Once you're happy with the edits and you've tapped "Next," you'll land on the final share screen.

Step 2: Find the 'Advanced Settings'

On the share screen where you write your caption, tag people, and add a location, scroll all the way to the bottom. You’re looking for a menu item called Advanced Settings. It's often the very last option on the list. Tap it to open a new menu of controls.

Step 3: Toggle Off Commenting

The very first option you'll see inside "Advanced Settings" is Turn off commenting. Simply tap the toggle next to it. It will slide to the right and turn blue, confirming that comments will be disabled for this specific Reel. You don't need to hit a save button here, the setting is automatically applied.

Step 4: Go Back and Share Your Reel

Tap the back arrow to return to the main share screen. Finish up your caption, tag relevant accounts, and hit the blue Share button. Your Reel will now be published to your grid and the Reels feed, but no one will have the ability to leave a comment. Where the comment button normally is, other users will see a message stating that comments have been turned off.

How to Turn Off Comments on an Existing Reel

Changed your mind after posting? Or maybe an old Reel is suddenly attracting unwanted attention? No problem. You can easily disable comments on a Reel that is already live on your profile.

Step 1: Navigate to the Reel You Want to Change

Open your Instagram profile and find the Reel you want to modify. You can find it either in your main profile grid or by tapping on the Reels tab (the clapperboard icon). Tap on the Reel to open it in the full-screen viewer.

Step 2: Open the Options Menu

With the Reel playing, look for the three-dot icon (...). On iOS and Android, this is typically located in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Tap on it to bring up a menu of actions you can take for that video.

Step 3: Select 'Turn Off Commenting'

From the list of options in the pop-up menu, simply tap Turn off commenting. That's it! The change is instant. A small notification will appear at the bottom of the screen confirming that comments are off. Now, no one will be able to comment on that Reel going forward, and any existing comments will be hidden from view until you decide to turn them back on.

Turning Comments Back On

If you ever want to re-enable comments, just follow the same process. Go to the Reel, tap the three-dot menu, and this time the option will say Turn on commenting. Tap it, and all the previous comments will reappear, and new ones can be added.

Alternatives to a Full Shutdown: Finer Control Over Your Comments

Turning off all comments is effective, but sometimes it feels too extreme. You might want to get rid of spam and trolls without silencing your genuine followers. Luckily, Instagram offers more nuanced tools to help you curate your comments section precisely.

1. Limit Comments to People You Follow or Your Followers

This is an excellent middle-ground solution. It filters out comments from random accounts that are more likely to be bots or trolls while still allowing your established community to engage with your content. It prevents drive-by negativity without completely shutting down the conversation.

How to set it up:

• Go to your profile and tap the hamburger menu (three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner.
• Select Settings and privacy.
• Scroll down to "How others can interact with you" and tap on Comments.
• Tap Allow comments from. From here, you can choose to allow comments from Everyone, People you follow, Your followers, or People you follow and your followers.

2. Use the 'Hidden Words' Feature to Filter Automatically

This is one of Instagram’s most powerful community management tools. You can create a custom list of words, phrases, and emojis that you find offensive, spammy, or simply off-topic. Comments containing anything from your list will be automatically hidden from everyone, including you. It acts as your personal, silent moderator.

How to set it up:

• Head to Settings and privacy and tap on Hidden Words.
• Under "Custom words and phrases," tap Manage custom words and phrases.
• Here, you can add any terms you want to block. Think creatively: add common spam trigger words ("promo," "DM me"), misspellings of your brand name, competitor names, or any slurs or offensive terms you frequently see. You can add as many as you want, separated by commas.
• Be sure the Hide comments toggle is turned on. The comments aren't deleted, they're just sent to a hidden folder for you to review if you choose.

3. Restrict Specific Accounts

What about that one person who is consistently annoying but hasn't done enough to justify a full block? The Restrict feature is the perfect tool for this. When you restrict someone, their comments on your posts will only be visible to them. You'll get a notification that a restricted account has commented, and you can then choose to view, approve, delete, or ignore it without them knowing.

This lets you handle problematic users discreetly, preventing them from derailing the public conversation while avoiding the drama that can come with a block. Their DMs will also move to your Message Requests folder. You can restrict an account directly from their profile or by swiping left on one of their comments.

Final Thoughts

Controlling your comments section isn't about shying away from engagement, it's about curating a positive and productive online space for yourself and your audience. Whether you need to disable them before posting, turn them off on an old video, or use filters to refine the conversation, Instagram gives you the tools to manage your community effectively.

Managing comments is just one piece of the puzzle. We designed Postbase to streamline the most demanding parts of social media, especially when it comes to juggling multiple accounts and skyrocketing engagement. Our unified inbox brings all your DMs and comments from Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and more into a single, clean dashboard, so you can stop jumping between apps and stay on top of your community without the chaos. It's about bringing calm and control back to social media management, a goal we focus on every day at Postbase.