Instagram is rolling out an AI assistant in its Edits app that analyzes your account stats and explains in plain English—not just numbers—what worked this month, why one Reel held attention while another flopped, and what to create next. The assistant is free, with a daily limit on questions.
For short-form video creators, this tackles a major pain point: everyone has access to analytics, but few know how to turn those numbers into actionable insights. Let's break down what this assistant can do, where it's available (and where it's not), and how you can ask your stats the same questions manually if you don't have access yet.
What's New in Edits
Edits is Instagram's free app for editing vertical videos. On September 30, 2026, an AI assistant section began rolling out within the app. It's called the Edits Assistant and works like a chat interface.
What sets it apart from typical AI chats is its data source. The assistant is connected to your Instagram account and sees your real performance numbers. This means it provides analysis on your specific videos, not just generic advice like "follow the trends."
Brett Westervelt, Head of Edits, described it this way:
"Instead of generic advice, you get insights based on who you are as a creator."
He also clearly defined its boundaries: the assistant handles the analysis, while creative decisions remain with the creator.
What Data the Assistant Sees
Instagram has listed the sources the assistant uses to build a complete picture:
| Data Point | Source |
|---|---|
| Follows | Account analytics |
| Views | Account analytics |
| Video Retention | Account analytics |
| Likes | Account analytics |
| Shares | Account analytics |
| Comments | Your videos |
| Audience Interests | Instagram data about your followers |
| What's Trending | Instagram trends |
The key item on this list is retention. It explains why a video with a strong hook might still flop: people watched for five seconds and then swiped away. Previously, you had to manually open the retention graph for each video and compare them to spot this. Now, the assistant does it for you.
What You Can Ask It
Instagram provides the following examples of questions:
- "What's working on my account right now?"
- what resonated most with my audience this month;
- why one video held attention and another didn't;
- what's trending on the platform right now;
- what to create next.
Beyond analysis, the assistant can also suggest:
- ideas for scenes, hooks for the first few seconds, captions, and scripts—based on your own successful videos;
- trending audio that fits your niche;
- variations of the same video to A/B test which one performs better.
In its post, Instagram shared two examples from creators who tested the assistant. For one, it highlighted that videos from her greenhouse performed better than her cooking videos. For another, it recommended adding seven-second videos to his mix of minute-long content.
The second example is telling: the advice "try making shorter videos" might sound generic, but here it's based on the specific account's data, not just a general best practice.
How Much It Costs
The assistant is free, but with a daily question limit. Instagram hasn't specified the exact number of questions per day.
Extended access is promised with a Meta One subscription. This is Meta's unified subscription for Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Meta AI, which launched globally on September 15, 2026. According to Meta, the plans for creators and businesses are:
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Essential | from $14.99 per month |
| Advanced | from $49.99 per month |
| Expert | from $149 per month |
| Max | from $499 per month |
Instagram has not yet clarified which plan removes the question limit or by how much. Meta also notes that plan features and pricing vary by country.
Where It's Available—And Where It's Not
Here's the main catch. The assistant is only available to Edits users in the US, on both iPhone and Android. Instagram has not announced a timeline for a rollout in other countries, nor a list of which countries are next.
What this means for our readers:
- Russia. Instagram has been blocked in Russia since March 14, 2022, so the assistant is not a possibility.
- Belarus and Kazakhstan. Instagram works and the Edits app is available, but the assistant is not yet included—it's still US-only.
- Working with an English-speaking audience. Even if you create content for a Tier-1 audience, you won't get the assistant until Instagram expands its availability beyond US-based users.
So, for the time being, this is news to keep an eye on for the future. But the questions the assistant asks your data are still valid—you can just ask them yourself manually.
What Creators Can Do Right Now
Analyze Your Retention Manually with Four Questions
Open the analytics for your last ten videos and note four things for each one. This is exactly what the assistant pieces together:
- How many people dropped off in the first three seconds. If it's more than half, the problem is your hook (the first shot and first line), not the topic itself.
- Where exactly the retention graph drops off. A single dip in the middle points to a boring or confusing segment. A steady decline means the video is simply too long.
- The shares-to-views ratio. Shares indicate the video is useful, not just watched to the end. This is the most honest signal that a topic is working.
- How many new followers the video brought in. Views without follows mean the video appealed to casual viewers, not your target audience.
Next, compare your best and worst-performing recent videos using these four points. The difference is almost always in one or two of these areas, and that's your key insight.
Test Your Video Length
The advice about 7-second videos from Instagram's post is worth testing for yourself: post the same idea in a short and a long version and compare the retention. Length is the cheapest variable to experiment with—it costs nothing to change.
Keep Your Own Records
The Edits Assistant's strength is that it remembers your entire account history. Until you have access, a simple spreadsheet can serve as your "memory": date, topic, length, hook, retention, shares. After twenty entries, you'll start seeing patterns even without an AI.
What's Still Unknown
Instagram announced the feature but left many details unexplained:
- how many questions the free version allows per day;
- which Meta One plan increases the limit, and to what extent;
- when and in which countries the assistant will be available outside the US;
- what languages it supports—only the US has been announced;
- how far back it can see into an account's history: its entire lifetime or just the last few weeks.
Meta previewed a desktop version of Edits in June 2026 and says it's still in development, but there's no release date yet.
FAQ
What is Instagram Edits?
It's Instagram's free app for editing vertical videos, offering features like trimming, captions, audio editing, and analytics for published videos. As of September 30, 2026, it's being updated with the Edits Assistant, which analyzes account statistics.
How can I find out why my Reels aren't getting views?
You should look at retention, not just views: how many people drop off in the first three seconds and where the graph dips. Low retention at the start points to a weak hook, while a steady decline suggests the video is too long. The Edits Assistant automates this analysis, but only for accounts in the US.
Is the Edits Assistant free?
Yes, with a daily limit on questions. Instagram has not disclosed the limit. Extended access is promised with a Meta One subscription, which starts at $14.99 per month for the basic creator plan.
Does the Edits Assistant work in Russia?
No. Instagram has been blocked in Russia since March 14, 2022, and the assistant is also only available to users in the US.
Will the Edits Assistant replace editors or scriptwriters?
No, and Instagram states this directly: the assistant handles data analysis, while the creative decisions about what to film remain with the creator. It doesn't edit or film for you—it shows you what has already worked from your past content.
Read More on This Topic
- What's Changed on Instagram with the Meta One Subscription
- How to Understand What's Working (and What's Not) Without Complex Analytics and Spreadsheets
- Neural Networks for Video Editing: The 15 Best AI Editors of 2026
Analyzing stats is crucial wherever your pay depends on performance. On Prime Oracles, creators take on brand briefs in the "Content Rewards" section and get paid based on their video views—making retention and watch time directly visible in their earnings.