Meta pushed a substantial update to Edits, its video editing app for Reels creators, and added a new recording aid to the main Instagram app. One feature is being removed, and that is the change most creators need to plan around.
Audio links in Edits
Creators can now attach links to specific songs and sounds inside a Reel, which viewers can tap to hear the audio. For anyone whose content depends on a particular track — dance formats, audio memes, music-led edits — this makes the sound itself a destination rather than just a background layer, and it gives creators a way to credit or amplify an artist without relying on a caption.
Kits: reusable style presets
Kits lets a creator save visual style elements — colours, text treatments, caption styling and audio — into a group they can reapply. The practical value is consistency: a brand or solo creator can lock a look once and stop rebuilding it for every video, and teams with multiple editors can apply the same preset rather than matching by eye.
Trending topic insights, with a follower threshold
Edits now surfaces what is trending among a creator’s own audience rather than what is trending globally. That is a more useful signal, but access is limited: the feature is currently only available to creators with more than 10,000 followers. Meta also added more visual effects tools in the same release.
Instagram’s reference mode on iOS
Instagram added the ability to use another Reel as an on-screen reference while recording. Open a Reel shorter than 90 seconds, tap the three-dot menu and choose “Use as reference.” The original plays in a small window inside the camera view; it can be moved around, paused at any time, and a countdown helps sync the new clip to the original. It is currently iOS-only.
This is aimed squarely at response videos, trend recreations and format copying, where the hard part is timing rather than concept. Being able to rehearse against the original instead of filming from memory is a genuine workflow improvement.
The deadline: linked Reels end October 28
Instagram will remove the option to link Reels into a series on October 28, 2026. The feature launched in August 2025 to let creators build connected series and extend viewer engagement. Creator economy analyst Lia Haberman first reported the removal.
The likely reasoning is a shift toward longer standalone video: if the platform is pushing long-form, guiding viewers through a chain of short clips works against it. Whatever the cause, the operational consequence is concrete. Anyone who has built linked series needs to decide before October 28 whether to combine those clips into one longer video, repost them as self-contained Reels, or let the series structure go.
Sources
- Social Media Today, “Meta adds audio links and reference Reels to Edits”: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/meta-adds-audio-links-and-reference-reels-to-edits/833192/
- TechJuice, “Meta Adds Audio Links and Reference Reels to Edits and Instagram”: https://www.techjuice.pk/meta-adds-audio-links-reference-reels-edits-instagram/
- Hardware Upgrade (Italian), on the Edits update and the October 28 removal: https://www.hwupgrade.it/news/web/meta-aggiorna-edits-con-link-audio-tendenze-e-stili-personalizzati-instagram-introduce-anche-i-reels-creati-usando-un-video-come-riferimento_160702.html
- The Creator Project newsletter, October 16, 2026: https://jadebeason.substack.com/p/instagram-edits-updates-you-need
