Your Part 2 is about to get lost
Instagram is due to remove Reel linking on 28 October, according to an in-app notice, and existing links go too. Every part of a series now has to explain itself to a stranger.
On this page
TL;DR
The link said, “Part 1 is over here.” From now on, the post has to say it.
From 28 October Instagram is removing Reel linking, according to its in-app notice, and existing links go too. The Reels, views and Insights stay.
Before you post the next part, ask yourself: “Would a stranger who lands here know where the story started?”
Scroll back through any small brand that ran a multi-part Reel this year: the bakery's three-day menu launch, the salon's before-and-after, the shop fit-out in four instalments. Under most of them sits a small link that carries the viewer to the next part. On 28 October Instagram removes it, on every series at once.
"Instagram is removing the option to link Reels in order to simplify the Reels experience," Social Media Today reported on 15 October. The in-app notice, which creators began sharing on Threads, adds that existing links will be removed too. The Reels stay up. Their views and Insights stay too. Only the thread between them is cut.
The button was covering for the post
Linking arrived in August 2025 and lasted about fourteen months. It was popular because it solved a real problem. Reels travel alone. Someone can meet Part 2 in the feed without ever having seen Part 1, and the link was the only thing telling them where the story started.
Take the link away and you find out how much of the series lived in that button. Most Part 2s open mid-sentence. The cover says "Part 2" and nothing else. The caption assumes you were here yesterday. That was fine while the button did the explaining. From next Wednesday the post has to explain itself.
Television solved this decades ago with three words: previously on… Every episode assumes some viewers are new, and spends ten seconds catching them up. Instagram creators are about to relearn the same habit.
Don't wait for Series
There is a replacement in the wings, but not on the calendar. In June, Meta told TechCrunch it was testing Series with select creators: Reels bundled as episodes, a dedicated tab on the profile, and an option to jump into the full series from any episode in the feed. It is still a test. The removal notice does not mention it, and Meta has given no date for a wider rollout. Planning around it means a week of broken series and a hope.
What does still work
Three things already on your phone do most of the button's job.
The pin. Instagram lets you pin up to three posts or Reels to the top of your profile. Pin Part 1 and a caption line like "Part 1 is pinned" stays true for as long as you leave it there.
The first line of the caption. People read the start of a caption, not the end. "Part 2 of 3. Part 1 is pinned on our profile" does in nine words what the link did with a tap.
The carousel. Since 7 October, Meta's Edits app on iOS can build carousels that mix photos and video, with headlines that run across slides, and share them straight to Instagram. Build a recap carousel, one slide per part, and you have the closest thing a brand gets to a box set. Android support is "coming soon", PetaPixel reports.
What it looks like on a profile
Picture a coffee roaster that ran "Roast day" in three parts. After the 28th, someone who lands on Part 2 sees beans tipping into a drum and no way back. The fixed version takes about ten minutes. The cover reads ROAST DAY 2/3. The caption opens: "Part 2 of 3. Part 1 is pinned on our profile." Part 1 sits in a pin, and a recap carousel tells the whole story in five swipes for anyone who would rather not watch three Reels.
None of that needs Instagram's help. It only needs you to write every part for the stranger who arrives in the middle, which is most of the people who will ever see it.
Sources
Social Media Today: Meta adds audio links and reference Reels to Edits (15 Oct 2026)
TechJuice: Meta adds audio links and reference Reels to Edits and Instagram
Marcus Fung, MMB: Instagram notice on ending Reel links (17 Oct 2026)
TechCrunch: Meta tests Series for episodic Reels on Instagram and Facebook (2 Jun 2026)
PetaPixel: Instagram Edits now lets you make custom photo and video carousels (7 Oct 2026)
