Skip to content
PostFastHelp

Post Reels and Trial Reels to Instagram

Pick Reel as the publish type to unlock the Post to grid toggle and Trial Reels. Trial Reels are shown only to non-followers, then graduated manually after 24h or automatically after 72h.

Updated 2026-04-161 min read

When your Instagram publish type is Reel, two extra controls appear in Platform settings: Post to grid and Trial Reel.

Enable Reel publish type

  1. In the composer, open Post settings → Platform settings and select your Instagram account.
  2. Under Publish type, pick Reel.

The Post to grid toggle and Trial Reel dropdown become available.

Post to grid

This toggle decides whether your Reel also appears on your profile grid.

  • On: the Reel is shared to your profile grid in addition to the Reels tab.
  • Off: the Reel only appears in the Reels tab on your profile.

Trial Reels

A Trial Reel is a Reel shown only to non-followers on Instagram. Use it to test how a Reel performs with a cold audience before deciding whether to push it to your own followers.

Open the Trial Reel dropdown and pick one of three options:

  • None (normal reel): a regular Reel, shown to followers and non-followers as usual.
  • Manual — you share after 24h: Instagram keeps the Reel out of your followers' feeds. After 24 hours, you decide whether to share it to all followers.
  • Auto — shared after 72h if performs well: Instagram automatically shares the Reel to your followers after 72 hours if it's performing well. This is sometimes called "auto-graduate".

Trial Reels require a public Professional account with at least 1,000 followers, per Instagram. If you don't meet those requirements, Instagram will reject the post at publish.

Was this article helpful?

Related articles