How to schedule Instagram Reels (app, desktop and Postdom)

Schedule a Reel in the Instagram app or Meta Business Suite, or let Postdom make Reels from your website and schedule the ones you approve.

On this page

You can schedule Instagram Reels from a public account in the Instagram app: prepare the Reel, open More options, turn on Schedule this reel, choose a time, then confirm. If you don't have the Reel yet, Postdom will make it: it turns your website into Reels in your brand and schedules the ones you approve.

Three ways to schedule Instagram Reels, depending on what you already have:

  1. Postdom: best when you want the Reels made for you from your website. You approve them and Postdom schedules them.
  2. The Instagram app: best for one finished Reel on a public account.
  3. Meta Business Suite: best for scheduling a finished Reel from a computer.

Schedule Instagram Reels with Postdom

Postdom turns your website into ready-to-post videos, slideshows and single images in your brand, and posts the ones you approve to Instagram, TikTok and more.

  1. Paste your website

    Type your website address. Postdom reads your brand from it: logo, colours, fonts, tone, what you do and who it's for.

  2. Get ready-to-post content

    Your For You feed fills with finished videos, slideshows and single images in your brand, using real clips and photos with native text boxes.

  3. Approve, edit or skip

    Nothing posts until you approve it. At your first approval, Postdom asks where it should post and you connect your account.

  4. Postdom schedules what you approve

    Approved posts are scheduled for you in your time zone, with quiet hours overnight. Every approve, edit and skip shapes the next posts.

You can change a post's time, take it off the schedule or post it now from Posts. See how scheduling works in Postdom.

Free: schedule Instagram Reels with Postdom

Postdom's Free plan has no card: 1 post a month made for you from your website, posted to 2 connected accounts of your choice. Free posts keep the Postdom watermark.

So you can schedule Instagram Reels with Postdom for free and see what your website turns into before you pay. When you want more, Starter is $39 a month for 30 posts, about $1.30 a post. A post is any format and only counts when you approve or schedule it.

Can you schedule Reels on Instagram?

Yes. Instagram's current help covers scheduling Reels from a public account in the app, and Meta Business Suite schedules Reels from a computer. Instagram's app guide currently excludes collaborative, product-tagged, sponsored and fundraiser content from native scheduling.

How to schedule Reels on Instagram

Start with the finished video and a public Instagram account. These steps follow Instagram's current scheduling help.

  1. Prepare the Reel

    In Instagram, tap Create or swipe right in Feed, then choose Reel. Select your video, tap Next and finish the caption and edits. Check the account and the Reel's audience before scheduling.

  2. Set the date and time

    Open More options. Turn on Schedule this reel and choose an available date and time. Confirm which time zone you are using before saving.

  3. Finish scheduling

    Tap Done, go Back, then tap Schedule. Leaving the date picker without the final Schedule action is not the same as confirming the post.

  4. Find the saved Reel

    Open your profile, then Menu, then Scheduled content under Your insights and tools. Check that the Reel appears with the intended time.

Instagram says scheduled content keeps the privacy and audience settings set when it was scheduled, so check them before saving.

Meta Business Suite: schedule Instagram Reels

Use Meta Business Suite when the Instagram account is available to you there. Meta requires full control or content permission for the account.

  1. Choose Instagram as the destination

    Open Meta Business Suite and choose Create reel from Home or Content. Under Post to, select the intended Instagram profile. Do not leave a Facebook destination selected unless you also mean to publish there.

  2. Add the finished video

    Choose Add video, select or upload a thumbnail, and add the caption under Reel details. Finish your edits beforehand: Meta's desktop guide says video editing in this flow is for Facebook, not Instagram.

  3. Schedule and confirm

    Choose Next, then the option to schedule ahead and your date and time. Check the Instagram destination, then choose Schedule rather than Share.

  4. Check the scheduled item

    Go to Content, then Posts and reels, then Scheduled. Find your Reel and check its destination and time.

Source: Meta's Reel-specific desktop instructions.

How to schedule Reels on Instagram from PC

From a PC, use Meta Business Suite in your browser with the steps above. Postdom also runs in the browser: approve Reels in For You and they are scheduled for you, with no file to move from your phone.

Preparing the file for the Reels publishing API? Its sourced aspect-ratio recommendation is 9:16, not a guarantee of acceptance or a mandatory native-app canvas. Choose dimensions and check crop versus fit. Recommendation source; that fact was checked .

Find, edit or move a scheduled Reel

In Instagram, go to Profile, then Menu, then Scheduled content, and open Options beside the Reel to edit, reschedule, share now or delete it. In Business Suite, go to Content, then Posts and reels, then Scheduled. In Postdom, open Posts.

Schedule a finished Reel with an API or agent

Through an API or agent, Postdom publishes finished videos you supply to TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, LinkedIn, Facebook Reels, X, Snapchat Spotlight, Threads and Bluesky. The released Instagram helper marks the Reel as AI-generated and has no private audience setting, so review the account's audience first. Read the Instagram automation workflow for the full request.

When a scheduled Reel does not appear

Scheduling problems and next actions
What you seeNext action
The app has no scheduling optionCheck that you are using a public account and look under More options. Do not make a private account public just to schedule.
The Reel needs a collaborator or product tagInstagram's app guide excludes these from native scheduling. Keep the feature; post it another way.
Postdom: waiting for approvalOpen the post and approve it. Only an approval approves it.
Postdom: missed its timePick a new time or post it now. Do not quietly backfill a time-sensitive post.
Postdom: failed or partialKeep the error and open the post's run before retrying. Partial means some destinations succeeded.

Schedule Instagram Reels: questions

Do I need a Business or Creator account to schedule Reels?

Instagram's current scheduling help says you need a public account; it does not state a Business-or-Creator-only requirement for the app scheduler.

Is there a free way to schedule Instagram Reels?

Yes. The Instagram app and Meta Business Suite are free, and Postdom's Free plan makes 1 post a month from your website and posts it to 2 connected accounts of your choice. No card needed.

Does Postdom post without my approval?

No. Nothing posts until you approve it. Postdom only offers to post a type without review after 9 of your last 10 posts of that type were approved without edits.

Does a scheduled Reel keep its audience settings?

Instagram's help says scheduled content keeps the privacy and audience settings configured when it was scheduled. Review them before saving.