This article was co-authored by Ben Whitehair and by wikiHow staff writer, Nicole Levine, MFA. Ben Whitehair is a Social Media Expert and the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of TSMA Consulting. With over a decade of experience in the social media space, he specializes in leveraging social media for business and building relationships. He also focuses on social media’s impact on the entertainment industry. Ben graduated summa cum laude from The University of Colorado at Boulder with BAs in Theatre and Political Science as well as a Leadership Certificate. In addition to his work as CIO, Ben is a certified business and mindset coach and Executive Vice President of SAG-AFTRA. He is also a successful entrepreneur as the Co-Founder of Working.Actor, the premier business academy and coaching community for actors.
This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources.
This article has been viewed 206,315 times.
If you want to search for certain reels on Instagram, it's pretty easy to do. Instagram's search feature lets you search reels by hashtag, keyword, and audio, and you can easily find videos you've watched in the past by filtering your watch history. This wikiHow article will teach you the best ways to search reels on Instagram using your Android, iPhone, or iPad.
Finding Reels on Instagram Fast
Tap the search icon (magnifying glass) at the bottom of the Instagram app, then search for a hashtag, user, keyword, or song. You can filter the search results using the tabs at the top. If you're trying to find a video you've watched, just go to your watch history at ☰ > Your activity > Watch history.
Steps
Searching by Hashtag or Keyword
-
Tap the search icon. Once in the Instagram app, you should see a magnifying glass icon at the bottom of your screen. Tap on this icon, and you will be taken to the explore page.[1]- Your explore page will show a combination of reels and regular posts.
-
Enter a keyword or hashtag in the search bar. At the top of the explore page, you will see a search bar. Tap the search bar and type in a hashtag or keyword that you would like to find videos under. Once you are finished, tap search (or the magnifying glass icon) on your keyboard.Advertisement -
Tap the Tags category to select a matching hashtag. This displays hashtags that match what you've searched for.- If you think the reel's creator may have tagged a location in the video, you can use that location as the keyword, then tap the Places tab to view matching locations.
-
Tap a hashtag to view reels that use that hashtag. You'll now see a list of videos posted on Instagram that use the hashtag you selected.
Searching by User Account
-
Tap the search icon. Once in the Instagram app, you should see a magnifying glass icon at the bottom of your screen. Tap this icon, and you will be taken to the explore page.[2] -
Search for an Instagram account. At the top of this page, you will see a search bar. Type the name of a user or account into this search bar and press enter (or the magnifying glass icon) on your keyboard. -
Select the account you want to see reels from. After searching for a name, you will see a list of accounts under that name. Tap the username of the person who posted the video you want to watch. -
Go to the account. Tap on an account from the list of search results.- This method will allow you to see reels only from one specific account.
-
Tap on the Reels icon (the play button). Once on a specific user's profile, tap the play icon (a sideways triangle inside a square) above their photo grid to display the video reels they've posted on Instagram.
Searching by Audio
-
Tap the search icon. In the Instagram app, tap the icon of the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of your screen.- This method will help you find reels that contain a certain song or sound on Instagram.
- If you're already watching a reel, you can tap the name of the song that's playing to watch other videos that use the same song.
-
Search for a sound. In the search bar at the top of the screen, enter the name of a song title, artist, or keyword that describes the sound you're looking for. Then, press enter or tap the magnifying glass icon on your keyboard to search. -
Tap the Audio tab. This filters the results to display audio that matches your search terms. -
Tap the audio to view videos that use it. After selecting the song or sound, you will see a list of video reels that use the selected audio. You can now tap any of the listed video reels to watch it.
Finding Reels You've Seen
-
Go to your Instagram profile. If you want to find a video that you've watched on Instagram but haven't been able to find again, you should be able to find it in your watch history. To get to your profile, tap your profile picture (or the profile icon) at the bottom-right corner of the Instagram app. -
Tap the menu ☰. It's the 3 horizontal bars at the top-right corner of the screen. -
Tap Your activity. This option is near the top of the menu.[3] -
Tap Watch history. It's under the "How you use Instagram" header near the bottom. -
Filter your watch history as needed. Use the menus at the top of your watch history to narrow down the results. For example, if you saw the video yesterday, you can tap the All dates menu, select Date range, then enter yesterday's date as the start and end dates.
Expert Q&A
Video
Tips
References
About This Article
1. Open Instagram.
2. Search for a keyword.
3. Go to the "Tags" category.
4. Choose a hashtag.
5. Filter by "Reels".
