What causes the difference?
Instagram’s mobile app displays total view counts from all Meta platforms where a Reel may appear — including Facebook. That means if your Reel gets shared or cross-posted to Facebook and receives views there, those views will be added to the total you see in the mobile app.
In contrast, Archive pulls view counts from the public web version of Instagram, which includes only Instagram-specific views. That’s why, for some Reels, the number of views you see in Archive may be lower than what you see on your phone.
How often does this happen?
This discrepancy is rare. We found that only around 2.5% of Reels in our dataset received significant additional views from Facebook. Most Reels don’t see meaningful cross-platform engagement, so in nearly all cases, Archive’s view counts closely match Instagram’s actual performance on Instagram itself.
Why Archive uses Instagram web data
We designed Archive to collect performance data using Instagram’s public web interface. This method is reliable and scalable.
Tracking cross-platform views (like those from Facebook) would require a fundamentally different and more complex system. Given how rarely Facebook views play a major role, we’ve decided not to prioritize this change at this time.