Instagram Finally Fixes the ‘Rug Pull’ That Made Videos Vanish Mid-Watch

I’m sure you’ve been there. You open Instagram, start watching an interesting video, maybe you’re just getting into it, and then—bam—it disappears. Just like that, replaced by some random post that pops into your feed out of nowhere.

It’s like Instagram is teasing you, showing you something cool and then yanking it away before you get the chance to really watch. And the worst part? Good luck ever finding it again with Instagram’s not-so-helpful search function.

Well, apparently, Instagram was aware of this "rug pull" issue (yes, they actually called it that internally) and decided to fix it. According to Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, who acknowledged the issue in a recent “Ask Me Anything” session on his Instagram Story, they’d initially set it up that way on purpose to keep new content loading quickly. When it took time to fetch new posts, they’d show you something that was already downloaded to avoid the dreaded buffering delay.

This kept engagement high, but it also annoyed users to no end. Mosseri admitted as much in a recent AMA, saying, “It’s really annoying, so we stopped doing it.” Now, instead of pulling the video out from under you, the app waits until you scroll to show new stuff.

While this tweak makes video-watching much smoother, I still find myself accidentally refreshing reels and losing track of interesting posts now and then. Personally, I’d love to see Instagram take a cue from YouTube Shorts and add a “watch history” feature.

YouTube’s video history has saved me so many times—it’s such a simple addition, but incredibly useful. Imagine being able to scroll back through your recently watched reels or videos on Instagram. It would be a game-changer, especially for those moments when you stumble on a reel that’s too good to lose to the scroll.

For now, at least, it’s nice to know we won’t be losing videos mid-watch anymore. It’s a small change, but a much-needed improvement that makes the whole Instagram experience feel a little more user-friendly and a lot less frustrating.