Instagram reels are now streaming on Amazon Fire TV devices
Scrolling through Instagram while watching TV? Now, you can veg out on Instagram reels on your TV, provided you’re an Amazon Fire TV user.
Available now on select Fire TV players and TV sets, Instagram for TV marks the arrival of a native Instagram app on the big screen, just a few months after the ubiquitous social app finally made the leap to iPad.
Instagram for TV is focused on Instagram reels, with the app organizing reels into personalized channels “based on your interests,” including music, sports, travel, trending, and more.
Click on a channel, and the reels with start playing with full sound, allowing you to “lean back and watch without having to scroll for what’s next,” Meta said in a press release.
The new Instagram for TV app supports up to five accounts, and you’ll also have the option of creating a separate Instagram account just for TV viewing.
Aside from searching for Instagram creators, the app (which is still in an “early” testing phase) will let you like specific reels as well as browse for comments and reactions. Other features being considered include using your phone as a remote, shared feeds with friends, and more “intuitive” ways to “channel surf,” according to Meta.
Since Instagram for TV is designed to be viewed on a big screen in a shared environment, the reels played on the app will “generally follow the PG-13 rating system,” while teen accounts will get additional safeguards.
For now, the Instagram for TV app will work only in the U.S. and only on “select” Fire TV devices, including the Fire TV Stick HD, Fire TV Stick 4K Plus, Fire TV Stick 4K Max (1st and 2nd generations), Fire TV 2-Series, Fire TV 4-Series, and Fire TV Omni QLED Series.
The app should land on other devices and in other countries “as we learn from this test,” Meta said.
Instagram isn’t the first social app to make the jump to big screens. Tik Tok already has an app for Android TV, Samsung, and LG TVs.
It’s also possible to mirror Tik Tok—and Instagram, for that matter—on your TV from your Android or iPhone, via either Chromecast or Apple’s AirPlay casting protocol.
