Safe zones for Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts: where to put your text

What a safe zone is

A safe zone is the part of a vertical video that the app's interface doesn't cover. Outside it, your username, caption, sound label and buttons sit on top of the picture, and on-screen text, subtitles, faces or products placed there can be hard to read or hidden completely. It's worse on smaller phones and when a viewer expands the caption.

It matters most for your hook. If the first line of text sits under the caption, the people scrolling on mute never see why they should stay.

Where Instagram Reels covers your video

• Bottom: your profile picture and username, the caption (which grows when tapped), the audio label, and any tagged people or location.
• Right side: the like, comment, share and more buttons, stacked down the edge.
• Top: the app's header and icons, which are smaller but still cover text placed right at the edge.

Meta's ad guidance for Reels asks advertisers to keep roughly the top 14%, the bottom 35% and 6% on each side free of text, logos and key creative. On a 1080 × 1920 video that's about 270 pixels at the top, 670 at the bottom and 65 on each side. Organic Reels carry a similar interface, so it's a safe guide for any Reel.

Where TikTok covers your video

• Bottom: your username, the caption and the sound name, plus any effect or location labels.
• Right side: your profile picture and follow button, then like, comment, save and share, with the spinning sound disc at the bottom.
• Top: the feed tabs, such as Following and For You, and the search icon.

TikTok's ad help pages say the safe zone depends on the video's shape and the caption's length: the longer the caption, the smaller the safe zone. If your video has text low on screen, keep the caption short, and keep anything important away from the right edge where the buttons sit.

Where YouTube Shorts covers your video

• Bottom: your channel name and subscribe button, the title, and the sound or remix link.
• Right side: the like, dislike, comment, share and remix buttons, with the sound thumbnail at the bottom.
• Top: the search and menu icons.

With the title, channel name and subscribe button all sitting low, text in the lower third of a Short is the most likely to be covered.

One layout that's safe on all three

If you post the same video everywhere, design for the strictest app at every edge:

• Leave the bottom third for captions and buttons. Put your hook text in the upper-middle of the frame.
• Keep a margin on the right, where every app stacks its buttons. Center your text, or set it slightly left.
• Stay clear of the very top edge, where feed tabs and icons sit.
• Use large, high-contrast text with an outline or a background box, so it reads over any part of the picture.
• Check on a small phone, not just your editing screen. The interface takes up more of a smaller screen.

Meta's Reels figures (top 14%, bottom 35%, sides 6%) make a good common guide for all three apps.

Subtitles need the same care

Auto-captions and burned-in subtitles usually sit low in the frame, which is exactly where the apps put their own caption and username. Raise them to around the middle of the frame, or just above the bottom third, so viewers can read both.

Check every second automatically

Text moves through a video. A caption that's clear at second 2 can slide under the buttons at second 9. ViralGrader checks your on-screen text against each app's buttons and caption across the whole video, and tells you exactly when and where to move it. Pick every app you post to and it checks all of their layouts at once.

Try it with the Reel analyzer, the TikTok virality checker or the YouTube Shorts analyzer. For what to write in that text, read how to write a hook.