Talking straight to camera has become the format that works on Instagram, and it is also the one people re-record eleven times. The problem is almost never the words. It is losing your thread halfway through and starting again.
FreeTeleprompter.io is a free browser teleprompter for Instagram Reels and Stories. On a phone it puts your script over the live camera view, so the words sit near the front lens instead of somewhere else on the screen, and it records vertically in 9:16 ready to post. There is no app to install, no account, no watermark on the video, and nothing is uploaded because the recording is made and saved on your own device.
Opens with vertical 9:16 and the script over your camera already selected. No account, no download, and your camera never leaves your device.
Open it on the phone you will film with
Not your laptop. The whole point is that the script sits on the same device as the camera you are looking into, which is what keeps your eyes in the right place.
Switch to portrait 9:16
Reels are vertical. Recording landscape and cropping later throws away the sides of the frame and usually your head with it.
Leave overlay mode on
It is on by default on phones. The script scrolls over the live camera view rather than beside it, so you can see yourself and your words in the same place.
Push the text to the top of the screen
The front camera sits at the top of a phone. Text in the middle of the screen means your eyes are visibly aimed at your own chin. Keep it high and keep it narrow.
Write the first line word for word, then loosen
A vertical feed gives you no run-up. The opening line decides whether the rest gets watched, so script that exactly and let everything after it be bullets.
Record, then save the MP4
Press record, read, and download. The file lands on your device and you upload it to Instagram yourself. Nothing passes through a server here.
Frequently asked questions
This one runs in your phone browser, so there is nothing to install from an app store. Open it, paste your script, and record. No account and no watermark on the video.
Yes. Choose portrait 9:16 and it records vertically at 720x1280, which is the shape Reels and Stories expect. The choice is remembered for next time.
Yes, that is what overlay mode does, and it is on by default on phones. The script scrolls over the live camera view rather than beside it, so you are looking at your own framing and your words at the same time.
Only if the text is far from the lens or scrolling too fast. Keep it in the top third of the screen, keep the lines short, slow the scroll, and use cue lines rather than full sentences.
No. It records to a file on your device and you post it yourself. Nothing here connects to your Instagram account, and nothing is uploaded anywhere.
For a thirty second Reel, roughly 75 to 90 words, because short-form delivery runs faster than normal speech. Use the speech time calculator to check yours against the length you want.
Next
Open the teleprompter
Free, no signup, records in your browser
How to talk to camera without sounding scripted
Why bullets beat scripts for this format
Instagram Reel script template
Three versions, hook written for you
Teleprompter for TikTok
The same format, a different feed
How many words in 30 seconds
Check your Reel fits before you film
Short-form script template
Hook, body and the replay ending