Instagram just dropped an AI assistant into Edits, its free editing app, and connected it directly to your account's analytics. You can ask it why one Reel held viewers' attention and another flopped, and it gives you answers in plain language, not just charts. The feature began rolling out on September 30, 2026, to Edits users in the United States on both iPhone and Android, with the free version having a daily question limit.
What's interesting isn't just that it's an AI chat—it's that it already knows your numbers. Here's a breakdown of what data it sees, how much it costs, where it's available for now, and how you can ask your own stats the same questions manually.
What Just Dropped
Edits is Instagram's free app for editing vertical video: cuts, captions, audio, and analytics for the Reels you publish from it. The new feature is called Edits assistant and lives inside the app as a chat.
Brett Westervelt, Head of Edits, summed it up this way:
Instead of generic advice, you'll find a perspective based on who you are as a creator.
And he set the boundary clearly: the assistant handles the analysis, but the creative decisions are still yours. It's best to take that literally. This isn't a script generator for when you're staring at a blank page; it's a tool for reading your own archives.
What Data the Assistant Sees
Instagram listed the sources it pulls from:
| Data | Source |
|---|---|
| New followers | Account analytics |
| Views | Account analytics |
| Video retention | Account analytics |
| Likes | Account analytics |
| Shares | Account analytics |
| Comments | Your own Reels |
| Audience interests | Instagram data about your followers |
| Trends | Instagram trends |
The key item on that list is retention. Views tell you the algorithm pushed your Reel out; retention tells you if anyone actually stuck around. Until now, reading it meant opening each Reel's chart separately and comparing them by eye. That comparison is exactly the work the assistant takes off your plate.
Comments are the second quiet hero in that table. They're the only place in your analytics where people explain why in their own words, and an AI reading through four hundred of them can spot a recurring question faster than you can.
What You Can Ask It
Instagram suggests these examples:
- "What's working on my account right now?"
- what connected most with your audience this month;
- why one Reel held attention and another didn't;
- what's trending on the platform;
- what to film next.
In addition to analysis, the assistant generates:
- concept ideas, hooks for the first few seconds, captions, and scripts, based on your best-performing videos;
- trending audio that fits your niche, not just the global charts;
- variations of the same Reel to compare which performs better.
Read the Answers Like an Editor, Not an Oracle
In its announcement, Instagram shared two case studies of creators who tested it. For one, it showed that her greenhouse videos performed better than her cooking ones. For another, it recommended adding seven-second Reels alongside her one-minute ones.
Written out like that, both pieces of advice sound obvious. The value is that neither was a guess: they came from the hard numbers of that specific account. Treat every answer the same way and ask which metric it's based on. If the assistant says a topic is working, the next question is, "based on which Reels, and with what retention?" An answer you can trace is an answer you can act on.
How Much Does It Cost
It's free, with a daily limit on questions. Instagram hasn't said how many.
Expanded access is promised via Meta One, Meta's bundled subscription for Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Meta AI, which launched on September 15, 2026, and is available worldwide. According to Meta, the plans for creators and businesses are:
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Essential | from $14.99/month |
| Advanced | from $49.99/month |
| Expert | from $149/month |
| Max | from $499/month |
Which plan lifts the question limit, and by how much, hasn't been specified. Meta also notes that plans, perks, and pricing vary by region and account, so check what your own account is offered before you bank on it.
For most people, the honest takeaway is: use the free version for a month. A daily limit is only a problem once you have a routine that exceeds it.
Where It's Available (and Where It's Not)
The assistant is only available for Edits users in the United States, on both iPhone and Android. Instagram hasn't provided a list of the next countries or any dates.
Here's what this means for you, depending on where you are:
- UK, Canada, Australia, etc. Instagram and Edits work as usual, but the assistant won't appear yet: it's exclusive to the United States.
- Spanish-speaking creators in the United States. You're included in the rollout, because it depends on the account's country, not the language you film in.
- If you create for a US audience from abroad. The assistant's availability follows the app, not your audience's location, so for now, it's not something you can plan with.
So for many of our readers, this is "coming soon" news. But you can start asking your stats the same questions the assistant does—manually—today.
What to Do While You Wait
Analyze Retention Yourself with Four Questions
Open the analytics for your last ten Reels and note four things for each one. This is exactly what the assistant combines:
- How many people leave in the first three seconds. If it's more than half, the problem is with your opening shot and first line, not the topic.
- Where the retention curve breaks. A sudden dip in the middle points to a boring or confusing part. A steady decline means the Reel is too long.
- The share-to-view ratio. A share indicates the video is useful, not just that it was watched to the end. It's the most reliable signal that a topic is working.
- How many new followers the Reel brought in. Views without followers mean it reached random people, not your people.
Then compare the two extremes—your best Reel and your worst—across those four data points. The difference is almost always in one or two areas, and that's your takeaway.
Test Your Video Length
The seven-second idea is worth testing on its own: publish the same idea in a short version and a long version and compare the retention. Length is the cheapest variable to change; it costs nothing more than another export.
Keep Your Own Notes
The assistant's advantage is that it remembers your account's entire history. Until you have it, a simple spreadsheet can serve as its memory: date, topic, length, first-three-seconds hook, retention, shares. After twenty rows, the patterns become visible without any AI.
What Instagram Hasn't Explained
- How many daily questions the free version includes.
- Which Meta One plan expands the limit and by how much.
- When and in which countries it will launch outside the United States.
- What languages it responds in.
- How far back into an account's history it can read.
Meta showed off a desktop version of Edits in June 2026 and says it's still in development, but there's no date for that either.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Instagram Edits?
It's Instagram's free app for editing vertical video: cuts, captions, audio, and analytics for Reels published from it. As of September 30, 2026, it includes an AI assistant that analyzes your account's stats.
How can I tell why my Reels aren't getting views?
Look at retention, not just views: how many people drop off in the first three seconds and where the curve breaks. A sharp drop at the beginning is a hook problem; a steady decline means the Reel is too long. The Edits assistant does this comparison for you, but only in the United States.
Is the Edits assistant free?
Yes, with a daily question limit that Instagram hasn't specified. Expanded access is promised through Meta One, starting at $14.99/month for the entry-level creator plan.
Does the Edits assistant work outside the US?
Not yet. Instagram has only launched it for Edits users in the United States and has not announced other countries.
Will it write my Reels for me?
It drafts hooks, captions, and scripts based on your best-performing videos, but Instagram explicitly states that creative decisions are still yours. It analyzes; it doesn't film or edit.
Further Reading
- What Really Changed on Instagram with Meta One
- How to Know What's Working Without Complicated Analytics
- Best AI Video Editors in 2026
Reading retention matters most when your earnings depend on those numbers. On Prime Oracles, creators take on briefs from brands in the "Content Rewards" section and get paid based on the views their own videos generate, so the percentage of video watched has a direct impact on their payout.