TL;DR: If you want to jump directly to the setup steps.

Problem Statement

If you were just looking for a simple toggle to turn off Instagram Reels and somehow ended up three pages deep into Google (hopefully this post ranks higher than that), you’re in the right place. Frustrating right? It is something you would expect to have natively but unfortunately, you’ll have to piece it together. The silver lining is that it is surprisingly simple (even for self-proclaimed non-tech people).

Tutorial

  1. Download Mozilla Firefox.
  2. Add the IGPlus Extension.
  3. Go to Instagram, press the 3 dots in the Firefox menu and press the Add to Home Screen option to create the PWA.
  4. If prompted, give Firefox permission to Home screen shortcuts. If not prompted, enable it manually:
    1. Long-press the Firefox app icon
    2. Tap App Info → Other Permissions
    3. Enable Home screen shortcuts
  • Notes: Step 4 may vary slightly depending on your device or Android version.
  • Bonus tip: Place the shortcut on the far left or right page of your home screen to make usage more intentional.

Limitations

  • Cannot upload video stories (not a limitation of the setup, rather a limitation of the Instagram web version).
  • Other Instagram web limitations also apply.

Motivation

Attention is the most valuable commodity these days, mega-corporations wouldn’t be mega-corporations if they added toggles to remove Reels, Shorts, or other algorithmic content.

Luckily, I’ve somehow managed to avoid TikTok entirely, but Instagram Reels got me. Lately, I’ve been trying to be more intentional with my attention and this is part of that effort. However, I am not ready to pull the plug completely on Instagram. It still feels more social and active than Facebook, minus the Reels, which are both a time sink plus not really social at all. As I make that comparison, I recognise how old I sound and what others have pointed out about Instagram eventually becoming the desolate wasteland Facebook is now; shunned by the newer gens.

Maybe it is just the right time to create a social media app. Picture unrelated.

Buzz

Jokes aside, I use to log into Instagram to see cool photographs, stories from my friends but it slowly turned into a go-to place for 60 minute doom-scrolling sessions of brain-rot humour (e.g. tralello trallala). Admittedly hilarious, but I’ve come to accept the brain-rot part is very real, and I’m trying to shift away from it.

I feel there is nothing wrong with the humour, just the addictive fleeting nature of short-form content. Even the tralello trallala reference I made earlier might be decades old in brain-rot years at this point. What I am trying to say, is that the culture cultivated there is ephemeral (quite the paradox) versus something traditional like watching an episode of Better Call Saul and discussing it online/offline, which was culturally lasting.

My growing uneasiness with algorithmic feeds serving the Reels/Shorts is another motivator. Ironically, I am going to reference a Reel that I watched by @subwaytakes: I miss the remote control. The gist of it being fighting to cultivate your own sense of taste. Whereas the algorithm makes me feel like the axiom humans from Wall-E.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, unlike native applications, you can modify and take control of the behaviour of PWAs since they use web-platform technologies, this also mitigates other risks of using native mobile apps by big-tech.

Experience

In two words, extremely positive. I haven’t once felt the urge to download the app at all. Furthermore, the friction caused by Meta handicapping the web app actually helps. I log in, check a few updates, and close it. Also the IGPlus extension cleans up more than just the Reels and makes it a more mindful experience. Definitely give it a try.

Additional Notes

Here is a table how I have been able to Reel/Short-proof Instagram and YouTube on my phone and desktop for the ones interested in further cleansing.

Category Android Desktop
YouTube Shorts ReVanced Unhook
Instagram Reels PWA solution discussed in this post IGPlus Extension
TikTok You’re cooked God help you

You can use the similar idea of converting your favourite websites into PWAs and use the variety of extensions available to take control of your browsing experience!