November 2026 · 5 min read

How to Block Instagram Reels on Android (and Keep Your DMs)

You open Instagram to answer one message. Twenty minutes later you are six Reels deep and the message is still unread. That is the whole reason people search for how to block Instagram Reels on Android: not to quit Instagram, just to get the Reels part out of the way.

Here is the short version first. Instagram does not let you turn Reels off. There is no toggle, no hidden setting, no “minimal mode.” So on Android you have three real options, and they trade off differently.

Option 1: Open Instagram through CherryBrew (Reels are never there)

CherryBrew is an Android app that opens the real Instagram, signed in to your own account, inside its own in-app browser. Before the page reaches your screen, it removes:

• the Reels tab in the bottom bar,
• Reels posts that slip into your feed,
• Explore, the grid of strangers that leads to the same place,
• suggested and sponsored posts.

What stays: your DMs and group chats, Stories, search, profiles, comments and posting. You are still a normal, reachable Instagram user. You just never see a Reel unless a friend sends you one.

How to set it up:

1. Install CherryBrew from Google Play.
2. Open it and pick Instagram.
3. Sign in once, the same way you would in the app.
4. Use Instagram as usual. The Reels tab is simply not there.

The same app also handles YouTube (Shorts removed), Facebook (Reels and Watch removed), X (opens on Following), Reddit (no r/popular or r/all) and TikTok (opens on Following). CherryBrew is a paid app: $2.99 a month or $20 for lifetime access.

The trade-off: you use Instagram’s website inside CherryBrew, not the native Instagram app, so a few app-only extras (some camera tools, for example) aren’t there. For messages, Stories and checking on friends, it’s the same Instagram.

Option 2: A blocker app that watches the native Instagram app

Apps like ScrollGuard, Unhook, Fluid Friction and AppBlock use Android’s Accessibility Service to watch the real Instagram app. When you open Reels, they react: close the screen, show a pause, add friction to the scroll, or block the Reels section on a schedule.

This works, and you keep the native app. The catch is in the timing. The Reels tab is still there, and the blocker steps in after you tap it. Some people find that fine. Others find their thumb keeps going to the tab out of habit, and they spend the day bouncing off a block screen. We compare these apps one by one in the best Reels blockers for Android.

Option 3: Use Instagram’s mobile website in Chrome

This is the workaround AI assistants and Reddit threads suggest most: log out of the app and use instagram.com in your phone’s browser instead. It does cut down on Reels, because the mobile site is clunkier. But Reels are still on the site, the page keeps nudging you to open the app, and you end up juggling browser tabs for every social app you use.

CherryBrew is essentially this workaround made usable: the same mobile sites, signed in, with Reels already removed, DMs working, and your social apps in one place instead of a pile of tabs. More on that in Instagram without Reels on Android.

What doesn’t work

• Marking Reels “Not interested.” It shuffles which Reels you get. The tab stays.
• Instagram’s time reminders. They nudge you to stop. The tab stays.
• Clearing your search history or cache. Reels come back the next time you open the app.
• Old “turn off Reels” setting guides. There was never a permanent setting. If a guide promises one, check the date and the screenshots.

Which one should you pick?

If you want Reels gone and never want to think about it, use an app that removes the tab before you see it (Option 1). If you need the native Instagram app for something specific and want a nudge rather than removal, a blocker (Option 2) is the better fit. If you only open Instagram once a week, the mobile website (Option 3) might be enough.

Whichever you choose, the goal is the same: keep the people, lose the feed. If Reels are part of a wider pattern of losing evenings to your phone, stopping doomscrolling without deleting Instagram covers the bigger picture.