Instagram can now edit your Reels in under 10 seconds — but there's a surprise

You have recorded five or six videos for an Instagram Reel. Now comes the less enjoyable part: watching them again, finding the useful moments, cutting out the awkward pauses and stitching everything together.

Instagram wants to do much of that work for you.

The platform is rolling out First Draft, a new Reels feature that automatically goes through multiple video clips, trims pauses and picks out useful moments before combining them into an initial edit. Instagram says it can produce that first version in under 10 seconds.

There is, however, an important distinction in an era when almost every automated feature is labelled AI: First Draft does not use artificial intelligence.

Instagram spokesperson Nicole Rechtszaid confirmed to The Verge that the feature instead relies on Instagram's internal tools to process and edit the footage.

What does Instagram First Draft actually do?

The idea is relatively simple.

A user selects several videos and taps the First Draft button. Instagram then analyses the footage, removes pauses, and trims the clips before assembling them into a Reel.

The result isn't supposed to be the finished video. Instead, it gives the creator a starting point that can then be rearranged, shortened or otherwise edited before posting.

Instagram says the feature can handle formats including talking-head videos, multi-clip montages and "day in the life" content. Everything it does can also be reversed or adjusted afterwards.

That could make a difference for casual users who enjoy recording videos but are less comfortable with video-editing software.

First Draft is initially rolling out on iPhone and can be accessed either while recording through Instagram's camera or from the Reels gallery after selecting multiple clips.

Why Instagram wants editing to happen inside Instagram

Automatically assembling videos isn't new.

Adobe Firefly's Quick Cut offers automated video editing, while ByteDance-owned CapCut has Auto Cut and a growing collection of tools designed to turn raw footage into social-ready videos.

The difference is that Instagram can put the feature directly in front of people who are already preparing to publish a Reel.

That removes a step from the process: users don't necessarily need to open another editing app, create their video, export it and then return to Instagram to upload it.

And Reels have become central to how Instagram is used. Social Media Today reports that Reels now account for around half of all time spent on Instagram.

Making Reels easier to create therefore isn't simply an editing upgrade. It reduces the effort required to produce more of the content Instagram users are already spending much of their time watching.

Instagram has been steadily adding creator tools

First Draft is part of a broader expansion of Instagram's creation tools.

The platform has introduced Replace Audio, allowing users to change the music on existing feed posts and carousels without deleting and reuploading them. Instagram has also been testing Series, which lets creators link related Reels so viewers can watch them in a specific sequence.

Then there is Edits, Meta's dedicated video-editing app and a more direct competitor to CapCut.

Meta has been updating Edits frequently. Recent additions include better project folders, reusable text and caption styles, and, for US users, an AI feature that turns a still image into a video based on written instructions.

An AI assistant is also being developed for Edits, according to TechCrunch.

That makes First Draft somewhat unusual. While Meta is putting generative AI into more of its creative products, one of Instagram's newest automated tools is deliberately doing something more straightforward: cutting video.