Instagram Broadcast Channels: How to Start or Join One
To start an Instagram broadcast channel today you need a public account with more than 1,000 followers, and Instagram has to have given you the feature, because it’s still rolling out. Then it’s a few taps from your inbox: Messages, Compose, Create channel. Instagram’s Help Center has also dropped the word “broadcast”: the feature is now just called channels.
A channel is one-way. You, and the collaborators and moderators you add, post; members react, reply and vote in polls but can’t send messages. This guide covers both sides, starting one and joining one, from Instagram’s Help Center and Meta’s newsroom. The rest of the inbox, and the app beyond it, is mapped in how Instagram works, feature by feature.
Table of Contents
- What are Instagram broadcast channels (now called channels)?
- Who can start a channel on Instagram?
- How to start an Instagram broadcast channel
- How to invite people to your channel
- What can you post in a channel?
- How to manage a channel: collaborators, moderators, unsend and delete
- How to join a channel, and who can see your reactions and replies
- Can you leave or mute a channel?
- Can Outfeed post to Instagram channels?
- Instagram broadcast channels: FAQ
What are Instagram broadcast channels (now called channels)?
A channel is a one-to-many chat in your Instagram inbox: the people running it post, and members react, reply and vote in polls, but they can’t send messages. That makes a channel a natural place for a quick PSA to members, such as a schedule change. Channels are public and discoverable by anyone on Instagram. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Create a channel on Instagram Instagram also lists channels you create among the profile details that stay public even on a private account. Checked against Instagram Help Center: What profile information anyone can see on Instagram
Here’s how Meta and Instagram have described the feature since it launched:
| When | What changed |
|---|---|
| 16 February 2023 | Meta introduces Instagram broadcast channels as a test with a handful of US creators: text, photo, video, voice notes and polls |
| 15 June 2023 | Meta expands broadcast channels globally |
| Now | The Help Center calls them channels: a public account with more than 1,000 followers can start one, and they’re still rolling out |
Checked against Meta Newsroom: Introducing Instagram Broadcast Channels (16 February 2023, updated 15 June 2023).
If you want a two-way conversation instead, that’s a group chat, where everyone can talk. Instagram says most group conversations can include up to 250 people. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Instagram group chat size limits To share with a hand-picked few rather than a public audience, a Close Friends list limits a post, note, reel or story to the people on it. How the inbox itself is organised is covered in what Instagram Direct is.
Who can start a channel on Instagram?
Instagram’s current answer is one sentence: “Channels can be started by a public account with more than 1,000 followers.” It adds that channels “are slowly being released on Instagram and aren’t available to everyone at this time,” so meeting the bar doesn’t guarantee you’ll see the option. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Create a channel on Instagram
That sentence names two conditions only: a public account and the follower count. If you’ve read a different number somewhere, go by the Help Center’s current wording. Meta’s 2023 launch post framed the feature around creators: “Only creators can send messages in broadcast channels, while followers can react to content and vote in polls.” Checked against Meta Newsroom: Introducing Instagram Broadcast Channels (16 February 2023, updated 15 June 2023)
Going Live has its own follower rule, set out in how to go live on Instagram.
How to start an Instagram broadcast channel
From your inbox: tap Messages, then Compose, then Create channel, fill in the settings and tap Create. Before that last tap you name the channel, choose its audience, choose when it ends and decide whether to show it on your profile. Instagram publishes the same steps for iPhone and Android:
On iPhone:
- Tap Messages at the bottom.
- Tap Compose in the top right.
- Tap Create channel. From here you can: enter a channel name, choose an audience for your channel, choose when your channel ends, and choose to show your channel on your profile.
- Tap Create in the top right.
Checked against Instagram Help Center: Create a channel on Instagram.
Your channels then sit under Channels at the top of Messages.
How to invite people to your channel
Send your first message: Instagram then notifies all of your followers and invites them to join. After that, there are three more ways to bring people in:
- The channel’s invite link. You can reset it, but you can’t turn it off.
- Your story. Share the channel, or a message from it, to your story.
- A QR code. Tap the channel name at the top of the channel, then tap QR code.
Checked against Instagram Help Center: Create a channel on Instagram.
What can you post in a channel?
Meta’s February 2023 launch post listed text, photos, videos, voice notes and polls. That list comes from the launch; this guide found no newer list of formats from Instagram. Checked against Meta Newsroom: Introducing Instagram Broadcast Channels (16 February 2023, updated 15 June 2023) Members can react to what you post, reply and vote in your polls. For polls elsewhere on Instagram, on stories, reels and group chats, see how Instagram polls work.
How to manage a channel: collaborators, moderators, unsend and delete
Whoever creates a channel is its admin. The admin can rename it, change its theme, share it to their story, add or remove up to 5 collaborators and up to 4 moderators, unsend messages, manage reactions and replies, and delete the channel. These controls are in the Instagram app for Android, iPhone and iPad. Checked against Instagram Help Center: What admins of channels on Instagram can do
- Collaborators can send messages in the channel, as admins can. A collaborator’s messages are discoverable by anyone on Instagram, even if their own account is private. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Join a channel on Instagram
- Moderators can send and remove messages, manage collaborators and reset the invite link. Checked against Instagram Help Center: What admins of channels on Instagram can do
To delete a channel, which Instagram publishes the same way for iPhone and Android:
On iPhone: delete a channel:
- Tap Messages at the bottom.
- Tap on the Channels tab and then tap on the name of the channel you'd like to delete.
- Tap Options.
- Select Delete from the dropdown menu.
- Tap Delete to confirm.
Checked against Instagram Help Center: What admins of channels on Instagram can do.
Once you delete a channel, it’s no longer visible in anyone’s inbox.
How to join a channel, and who can see your reactions and replies
Open the channel and tap Join at the bottom; it’s then added to your inbox. Joining works only in the Instagram app for Android, iPhone and iPad. If a creator you follow starts a channel and sends the first message, you get a notification.
Before you react to anything, know who’s watching. Instagram’s join article says: “Your reactions, replies and responses to polls in channels are visible to anyone on Instagram.” It also says people “may be able to see that you’re a member of a channel, whether or not they also join.”
Checked against Instagram Help Center: Join a channel on Instagram.
Can you leave or mute a channel?
Meta said yes when it launched broadcast channels, but Instagram’s current Help Center publishes no steps for either. Meta’s February 2023 post said followers “can leave or mute broadcast channels at any time” and can control notifications from a creator from that creator’s profile. It also said channel notifications default to “some”. Checked against Meta Newsroom: Introducing Instagram Broadcast Channels (16 February 2023)
That’s 2023 wording, not a current menu path, and Instagram’s labels may have changed since. A channel also disappears from your inbox if its admin deletes it.
Can Outfeed post to Instagram channels?
Channels live in the inbox, which raises a question for anyone using Outfeed AI, our own product:
Schedule your Instagram feed posts in Outfeed AI
Instagram broadcast channels: FAQ
How many followers do you need for an Instagram broadcast channel?
Instagram’s Help Center says channels can be started by a public account with more than 1,000 followers. It also says channels are slowly being released and aren’t available to everyone yet, so an account that meets that bar may still not see the option to create one.
Why don’t I have the broadcast channel option on Instagram?
Instagram says channels are still being released and aren’t available to everyone. Check the two conditions it states: a public account and more than 1,000 followers. Instagram’s steps for creating a channel are for the iPhone and Android app, and joining one works only in the Instagram app.
Can followers reply in an Instagram broadcast channel?
Members can react, reply and vote in polls, but they can’t send messages of their own. Instagram says those reactions, replies and poll responses are visible to anyone on Instagram, not only to the channel’s members.
Can business accounts start a broadcast channel?
Instagram’s current Help Center sentence on who can start a channel names a public account with more than 1,000 followers and no account type. Meta’s 2023 launch post said only creators could send messages in broadcast channels, but that is launch wording, not today’s rule.
How do you leave an Instagram broadcast channel?
Meta said at launch in February 2023 that followers can leave or mute broadcast channels at any time, and can control notifications from a creator on that creator’s profile. Instagram’s current Help Center publishes no steps for leaving or muting, so today’s menus may differ from that 2023 description.