Safe zone
A safe zone is the part of an ad's frame that the app's own interface leaves uncovered: the area where text, logos and the product stay visible. On Meta's 9:16 Stories and Reels ads it is everything inside the top 14%, the bottom 35% and 6% of each side. The rest sits under the profile row, the caption and the call-to-action button.
What is Meta's safe zone for Stories and Reels?
Meta's ads guide page for image ads on Instagram Reels says:
Consider leaving roughly 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom, and 6% on each side of your asset free from text, logos, or other key creative elements to avoid cropping key elements or covering them with the profile icon or call-to-action.
The same numbers are on the Instagram Stories pages and the Facebook Reels pages, and since 2026 on the Facebook Stories image and video pages too. That leaves the middle 51% of the height and 88% of the width for anything that has to be read. In pixels:
| Canvas | Top 14% | Bottom 35% | Each side 6% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1440 × 2560 | 358 px | 896 px | 86 px |
| 1080 × 1920 | 269 px | 672 px | 65 px |
Meta's help article on text overlays and the safe zone adds a rule for disclaimers: "If you're including disclaimers on your Reels ads, you should leave the bottom 40% of your ad free from text, logos and other key creative elements." It also points to a checker: "you can toggle on the Safe zone guardrail to see where the safe zone is located."
Why is the safe zone a percentage and not a pixel count?
Because it has to hold at more than one canvas size. Meta's guide recommends 1440 × 2560 for Instagram Stories and Reels, while its help center still names 1080 × 1920. Both are 9:16, so the percentages carry over and the pixels don't. The fixed pixel figures most guides print are conversions at a canvas they don't state, and some come from older Meta copy: a few Stories pages still say "14% (250 pixels)" for the top margin. The full comparison goes page by page.
Do feed ads have a safe zone?
Meta gives no number for 4:5 or 1:1 feed ads. The help article has one sentence, for Instagram only: "For Instagram Feed ads using non-9:16 aspect ratios (such as 1:1 or 4:5) keep the bottom and side edges free of key creative elements, text and logos." A vertical video in Instagram Feed is the exception: "9:16 video ads in Instagram Feed use the same safe zone guidance as Reels and Stories."
Does TikTok have a safe zone?
Yes, but not as a fixed size. TikTok's In-Feed Ads spec page says: "The safe zone size is determined by the dimension (vertical, horizontal, or square), ad caption length, and any additional formats used." It offers downloadable templates instead, covered in TikTok's safe zone.
What it means for your ads
- Design vertical ads to 14% / 35% / 6%. Every margin is at least as large as the older rules still live on a few Meta pages, so one template covers them all.
- Move the bottom band to 40% on Reels with a disclaimer.
- Work in percentages and convert at your canvas. A pixel template made at 1080 × 1920 is wrong at 1440 × 2560.
- Compose for the frame instead of cropping into it. A square stretched to 9:16 puts its headline under the caption.
Common mistakes
- Using one Stories pixel figure for every canvas. "250 px" is under 10% of a 2560-pixel frame.
- Trusting the 20% bottom margin. Meta's Stories best-practices page still says to "leave roughly 14% of the top and 20% of the bottom" for the call-to-action sticker. The ads guide says 35%, and the larger margin satisfies both.
Sources
- Meta Ads Guide: image ads on Instagram Reels — Meta: the 14% / 35% / 6% sentence and the 1440 × 2560 resolution (rendered in a browser, accessed 2026-10-16)
- About text overlays and the safe zone for ads on Facebook and Instagram — Meta Business Help Center: the 40% disclaimer rule, the Safe zone guardrail, the non-9:16 Instagram Feed sentence and the 9:16 feed video rule (rendered in a browser, accessed 2026-10-16)
- Creative best practices for Stories — Meta Business Help Center: the 14% / 20% call-to-action sticker guidance (rendered in a browser, accessed 2026-10-16)
- Design requirements for Instagram Stories ads — Meta Business Help Center: "Recommended resolution: 1080 x 1920" (rendered in a browser, accessed 2026-10-16)
- TikTok Auction In-Feed Ads — TikTok Ads Manager help: the safe-zone sentence and the downloadable templates (accessed 2026-09-15)
Quotes are reused from this site's safe-zone posts, whose Sources list each page and the date it was read. Meta's help pages are client-rendered and show no date, and Meta changed its Stories safe zones in 2026 without announcing it, so check the live page before you rely on a figure here.
Terrads can show the 14% / 35% / 6% margins over any vertical ad before you download it, so you see what the buttons will cover before the ad runs.