TL;DR: On a 9:16 Reels or Stories ad, keep the top 14%, the bottom 35% and 6% on each side free of text and logos. On a 1080 x 1920 canvas that is 269 pixels at the top, 672 at the bottom and 65 on each side. Facebook Stories asks for less at the bottom (20%), and a Reels ad with a legal disclaimer needs 40%. Threads crops a 9:16 asset to 4:5, which removes about 15% at each end. Ads Manager has a Safe zone guardrail switch that draws the bands on your creative before you publish.
What a safe zone is
Meta's Help Center calls the safe zone the part of your ad that the user interface neither crops nor covers. Two things sit on top of a vertical ad. At the top, the profile picture, the account name and the Ad label. At the bottom, the call-to-action button, your primary text and, on Instagram Stories, the call-to-action sticker. Anything you draw in those bands is behind them.
Phones add a third problem. On screens taller than 9:16, Meta says it may zoom the creative to fill the screen, "which can crop areas outside the safe zone". Or it keeps the 9:16 frame and fills the rest with black. The side margins exist for that case.
The numbers Meta publishes, by placement
Meta gives the numbers on the placement pages of its Ads Guide and on two Help Center articles. They are recommendations, so an ad that breaks them still runs. It runs with its headline under a button.
| Placement | Top | Bottom | Sides | Where Meta says it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instagram Reels (video) | 14% | 35% | 6% each | Ads Guide, Instagram Reels video page ("at least") |
| Instagram Stories (image) | 14% | 35% | 6% each | Ads Guide, Instagram Stories image page |
| Facebook Reels | 14% | 35% | 6% each | Ads Guide, Ads on Facebook Reels page |
| Facebook Stories | 14% (250 px) | 20% (340 px) | not stated | Ads Guide, Facebook Stories pages |
| 9:16 video in Instagram Feed | 14% | 35% | 6% each | Help Center: "the same safe zone guidance as Reels and Stories" |
| 1:1 or 4:5 in Instagram Feed | no band | keep free | keep free | Help Center: bottom and side edges, no percentage given |
| Reels ad with a disclaimer | 14% | 40% | 6% each | Help Center: "leave the bottom 40% of your ad free" |
| Threads feed | cropped | cropped | none | Help Center: assets taller than 4:5 are "cropped and vertically centered to 4:5" |
One set of numbers covers almost every case. Build for 14% at the top, 35% at the bottom and 6% at the sides, and the creative is safe on Reels, both Stories placements and vertical Feed. The Facebook Stories bottom band is smaller, so the 35% rule covers it too.
1440 x 2560
Keep these bands free
- Top 14%: profile name and ad label. about 360 px
- Bottom 35%: call to action and text. about 900 px
- Sides 6%: tall screens crop the edges. about 86 px each
Threads is the odd one out. Its feed shows images and videos at 4:5 at the tallest, and Threads cuts a 9:16 asset to that ratio around its center. A 4:5 frame is 70% as tall as a 9:16 frame of the same width, so Threads removes about 15% at the top and 15% at the bottom. The 14% top band of the Reels rule is almost exactly the piece Threads cuts, and the 35% bottom band contains the other cut. A creative that respects the Reels rule survives the Threads crop with its text intact.
The numbers in pixels
Percentages are easy to misjudge in a design tool. The two canvases Meta recommends are 1080 x 1920 for Stories and 1440 x 2560 for Reels. The bands in pixels:
| Band | 1080 x 1920 | 1440 x 2560 |
|---|---|---|
| Top 14% | 269 px | 358 px |
| Bottom 35% | 672 px | 896 px |
| Bottom 20% (Facebook Stories) | 384 px | 512 px |
| Bottom 40% (Reels with a disclaimer) | 768 px | 1,024 px |
| Each side, 6% | 65 px | 86 px |
| Safe area that remains (14 / 35 / 6) | 950 x 979 px | 1,267 x 1,306 px |
The last row is the useful one. On a 1080 x 1920 canvas, everything people must read fits in a box 950 pixels wide and 979 pixels tall, starting 269 pixels from the top. That box is close to a square, so the readable part of a vertical ad is a square with room above and below it.
How to check an ad before it runs
- Set guides on the canvas. In your design tool, add horizontal guides at 14% and 65% of the height and vertical guides at 6% and 94% of the width. On 1080 x 1920 the guides sit at 269 and 1,248 pixels down, and at 65 and 1,015 pixels across.
- Put the first line and the logo inside the guides. The opening text is what people read in the first second, and the logo is what they remember. Backgrounds, faces and product shots can run to the edges.
- Switch on the Safe zone guardrail in Ads Manager. The Help Center says that in Ads Manager you can "toggle on the Safe zone guardrail" to see the zone. It draws a yellow overlay on your creative. Whatever you see outside the overlay is at risk.
- Check the Facebook Stories and Threads previews. The placement previews in Ads Manager show the real buttons and the real crop. Threads in particular cuts the frame, and the preview shows what remains.
- Move the sticker if it lands on your text. Instagram Stories ads carry a call-to-action sticker at the bottom by default. Meta's Stories best-practice page says you can "adjust the default position of the sticker for ads in the 9:16 ratio". The control sits in the ad creative section of Ads Manager.
- Add the disclaimer rule when it applies. A Reels ad with a legal disclaimer keeps the bottom 40% free, because the disclaimer text takes the space the call to action does not.
The six steps take about two minutes per ad. A covered headline shows up weeks later as a low click-through rate, with nothing in the reports that says why.
What covers text most often
These are the cases I see most in accounts, with the fix for each. They are my reading of the rules, not Meta's list.
- Subtitles burned into the bottom of a video. Captions belong in the middle band. Captions burned into the bottom 35% sit under the primary text and the button.
- A logo in a top corner. The top corners hold the profile picture and, in Stories, the close button. Put the logo in the middle band, or trust the profile picture, which already shows it.
- A price or offer in the lower third. The lower third is the call to action's home. Lift the price to the middle of the frame, above the button.
- A square or 4:5 asset stretched to 9:16. Meta accepts it, then crops or letterboxes it on tall phones. Rebuild the asset at 9:16 with the message inside the safe box, or keep it at 4:5 and let Meta place it with the interface around it.
- A 9:16 asset reused in Threads without a look at the preview. The crop removes the top and bottom 15%. Text in the Reels safe box survives; text elsewhere does not.
Launching many vertical ads at once
In Adsap, a batch of Reels and Stories ads goes out from one ad sheet, each row one ad with its own creative. The safe zone check happens before the sheet, in the design file, because no tool moves text once the asset exists. The full list of ratios, sizes and text lengths per placement is in the ad sizes and specs post, which this post extends.
Frequently asked questions
Meta's Ads Guide says to leave at least 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% on each side of a Reels ad free from text, logos and other key creative elements. On a 1440 x 2560 canvas that is 358 pixels at the top, 896 at the bottom and 86 on each side.
Yes for Instagram Stories: 14% top, 35% bottom and 6% at the sides. Facebook Stories asks for 14% at the top and 20% at the bottom, so a creative built for the Instagram rule is safe on both.
No. The safe zone is a recommendation, not a policy. The ad runs, the interface covers the text, and the cost is weaker results.
Switch on the Safe zone guardrail in Ads Manager. Meta's Help Center says the safe zone is the area inside the yellow overlay that appears on your creative.
Threads shows images and videos at 4:5 at the tallest and crops a taller asset to that ratio around its center. About 15% of the height disappears at the top and 15% at the bottom. Text inside the Reels safe zone survives the crop.
Sources
All Meta pages read on 2 November 2026. Meta's Help Center pages carry no update date.
- Meta Help Center, About text overlays and the safe zone for ads: the definition and the edges rule for 9:16 and non-9:16 Feed ads. Also the Safe zone guardrail with its yellow overlay, the taller-screen note and the 40% rule for Reels ads with a disclaimer.
- Meta Ads Guide, Instagram Reels video page: "at least 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom, and 6% on each side". Also the 1440 x 2560 resolution and the 44-character primary text.
- Meta Ads Guide, Instagram Stories image page and Ads on Facebook Reels image page: the same three numbers.
- Meta Ads Guide, Facebook Stories pages: 14% (250 pixels) at the top and 20% (340 pixels) at the bottom.
- Meta Help Center, Creative best practices for Stories: the call-to-action sticker and the 14% and 20% bands for it. Also the option to move it for 9:16 ads in Ads Manager.
- Meta Help Center, Design requirements for Instagram Stories ads: the 1080 x 1920 recommended resolution.
- Meta Help Center, About ads on Threads: assets taller than 4:5 "cropped and vertically centered to 4:5". The 15% figure is arithmetic on that rule. A 4:5 frame is 70% as tall as a 9:16 frame of the same width.
- Adsap: the ad sizes and specs post and the ad sheets guide.