How to repost on Instagram, and whether it helps your reach
Instagram added a Repost button on 6 August 2025, and it changed an old habit. Sharing someone else's Reel used to mean a screenshot, a Story or a re-upload with a credit line, and the re-upload is exactly what Instagram's originality rules now push out of recommendations.
This page covers the steps, where reposts appear and who sees them, how to control reposts of your own posts, and the part most guides skip: a repost grows the person who made the post, not the person who taps the button.
The short answer
Tap Repost under any public Reel or feed post, add a note in the bubble if you like, and it appears to your followers and in a Reposts tab on your profile. The repost is credited to the original creator and can be recommended to your followers who do not follow them, so being reposted is what grows an account. Reposting others does not.
On a phone, the button sits under every public Reel and post whose creator allows reposts. Reposting is not available on computers. You can only repost the original post, never someone else's repost, and tapping Repost again removes it.
Who benefits is set by how Instagram shows the repost. Your followers may see it in their feeds, credited to the original poster, and Instagram says a repost may be recommended to your followers even if they do not follow that creator. That is free distribution for them, and a reason to make posts other people want to pass on.
Repost button launched: 6 Aug 2025 (with the Friends tab in Reels)
Where you can repost: Phone app (not available on computers)
Who a repost reaches: Your followers (credited to the original creator)
Instagram's help page gives the same steps on iPhone and Android. The feature may not be available to everyone yet, and it only works on public posts whose creator allows reposts.
Open the post
Find the public Reel or feed post in the Instagram app. The Repost button sits with the like, comment and share buttons.
Tap Repost
The post is reposted straight away and added to the Reposts tab on your profile.
Add a note if you want
Tap the bubble by your profile picture at the bottom left of the post, type what you want to say, then tap Save.
Undo it any time
Tap Repost again on the same post to remove your repost.
Comments on your repost
When people comment on something you reposted, Instagram sends those comments to you as direct messages, so check your inbox after reposting.
Where reposts show up, and who sees them
A repost goes two places. Your followers may see it in their feeds, and it is kept in a dedicated Reposts tab on your profile, separate from your own grid. Instagram credits every repost to the original poster, so the creator's name, not yours, sits on the post.
Instagram's announcement adds the line that matters for growth: when you repost a creator's post, it may be recommended to your followers even if they do not follow that creator. A repost is an introduction. Each one puts the creator in front of a new group of people who already trust the account doing the reposting.
Does reposting help your reach?
Reposting someone else's post gives your followers something to see, but it is not your content, and Instagram's ranking rewards original posts. Its original content guidelines recommend reposting or sharing to Stories when you want to pass on another creator's work, instead of re-uploading it, because an account whose recent posts are mostly unoriginal may not be recommended to new audiences.
The button is therefore the safe way to share, not a way to grow. It keeps you clear of the originality penalty that re-uploads trigger, and it costs you nothing, but the new followers it creates go to the original creator.
Pushing your own post again does little either. Asked in April 2026 whether sharing your own feed post to Stories boosts it, Instagram's head Adam Mosseri said it is not going to meaningfully change your reach overall.
Being reposted is the growth lever
If a repost introduces the creator to the reposter's followers, the goal is to be the creator people repost. A post gets passed on when it is useful, funny or true enough that someone wants their own followers to see it, which is the same quality Instagram rewards when it counts sends and shares.
Posts that get reposted tend to be specific: a checklist people want to keep, a take their followers would argue about, a result they can point to. The tactics for earning those passes are on how to get more saves and shares.
Who sees your posts first matters too. A post shown to people inside your niche is far more likely to be reposted to another audience inside your niche than one shown to strangers with no interest in the topic.
Repost, Story share, Collab or re-upload?
Four ways to put someone else's post in front of your followers, and what each one does for the two accounts involved.
Method
Who gets credit
Effect on your account
Repost button
The original creator, on the post
No originality risk; growth goes to the creator
Share to your Story
The creator, via a tap-through sticker
No originality risk; lasts 24 hours
Collab post
Both accounts, on one shared post
Counts as your post too; both audiences see it
Re-upload with credit
You, on your grid
Counts against originality: a credit line is not a material edit
How to stop people reposting your posts
Reposts of your content are on unless you turn them off. Open your profile, tap the menu at the top right, then Sharing and reuse under How others can interact with you, and switch the toggle next to Reposts on posts and reels.
To clean up your own reposts, go to the menu, Your activity, then Reposts, select the ones to remove and tap Delete. To report a repost, long-press the profile picture at the bottom left of it and tap Report.
For most accounts trying to grow, leaving reposts on is the better choice: every repost is a credited introduction to someone else's followers.
Getting in front of the people who repost
The method. With Virallized, you choose target accounts whose followers are the audience you want, and our team runs quality interactions with those people every day. The ones who like what they see visit your profile and follow. Nobody is delivered; every new follower decided.
Why it matters here. People inside your niche are the ones who repost, share and send. Putting your profile in front of them every day is how a good post finds the accounts that will pass it on. Plans run $99 to $299 a month, each scoped to a published range of 150 to 3,000 followers a month, with Virallized AI included for content, a 7-day money-back guarantee and no contract.
Common questions
How do I repost on Instagram?
In the Instagram app, tap Repost under any public Reel or feed post. To add text, tap the bubble by your profile picture at the bottom left, type your note and tap Save. The repost appears to your followers and in the Reposts tab on your profile.
Can you repost on Instagram from a computer?
No. Instagram's help page says reposting is not available on computers; it works in the iPhone, Android and iPad apps.
Does reposting on Instagram help your account grow?
It helps the original creator more than you. A repost is credited to them and may be recommended to your followers who do not follow them. For your own growth, original posts matter; the button just lets you share without the originality penalty a re-upload carries.
Can I repost a repost on Instagram?
No. Only content posted by the original creator can be reposted, and only if that creator allows reposts.
How do I turn off reposts of my posts?
Open your profile, tap the menu, then Sharing and reuse, and switch off the toggle next to Reposts on posts and reels.
Where do I find my reposts?
On your profile, in the dedicated Reposts tab. To manage or bulk delete them, go to the menu, Your activity, then Reposts.
Does sharing my own post to Stories boost its reach?
Not meaningfully. Adam Mosseri said in April 2026 that sharing your own feed post to Stories is not going to meaningfully change your reach overall.