You can set a default audience for future Facebook Reels and choose or change the audience for an individual Reel. Use Public to let anyone, including people who aren’t on Facebook, view it; Friends to limit it to your Facebook friends; or Friends except… to exclude specific friends. Menu labels can vary by account, so check the options shown in your current Facebook settings.
Change the default audience for future Reels
Facebook’s default audience setting applies to future Reels, including Reels shared from Instagram. Changing it does not automatically change the audience on Reels you have already posted. Facebook’s documented path is Settings & privacy → Settings → Audience and visibility → Reels. Under Who can see your reels?, select the current audience, choose a new one, and save.
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- Public: Anyone can view the Reel, including people who aren’t on Facebook.
- Friends: Only your Facebook friends can view it.
- Friends except…: Your Facebook friends can view it except for the people you select.
Set or change the audience for one Reel
Before publishing
While creating a Reel, open the audience selector and choose who can see that Reel before you publish it. If your profile is locked, Facebook says you can’t select Public during Reel creation.
After publishing
Facebook says you can change the audience of a specific Reel at any time. Open that Reel’s audience control and select the new audience. The exact controls may vary by profile type or interface; if you don’t see them, search your current Settings for Reels audience controls.
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Check the Facebook audience when sharing from Instagram
An Instagram audience does not necessarily match the audience for the copy shared to Facebook. If you share a Reel from Instagram and have not chosen a Facebook default, Facebook says it automatically sets that default to Friends for a private Instagram account or Public for a public Instagram account. Instagram followers and Facebook friends may be different groups, so check the Facebook audience setting before sharing.
What the audience setting does—and doesn’t—guarantee
The audience control determines who Facebook allows to view the Reel. It should not be treated as a guarantee that viewers cannot record, copy, or redistribute it; Facebook’s cited help pages do not settle every form of onward sharing. Facebook also notes that content hidden from a timeline may still appear elsewhere on Facebook, such as Feed or search, to the audience it was shared with.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why older video instructions may not match
Facebook says it renamed the Videos tab to Reels in June 2025 and describes a rollout in which all videos posted to Facebook would be shared as Reels. The company also says Reels can be any length or orientation following this change. Older instructions that refer to a Videos tab or conventional video posts may therefore differ from the controls in your account. Settings can also vary by profile type, so follow the labels currently shown in Facebook.
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