Keep Instagram videos and reels playing when you switch tabs or apps. Stops Instagram from pausing playback the moment you look away, and keeps picture-in-picture live instead of frozen.
Instagram on the web pauses whatever you are watching the instant you switch to another tab or window. If your browser has automatic picture-in-picture (like Arc, or Chrome with Auto-PiP enabled), you get a frozen preview instead of a playing video.
This is deliberate on Instagram's side: the page watches for the tab going hidden and pauses playback on purpose.
This script stops that. Videos and reels keep playing when you switch away, and picture-in-picture stays live. There is nothing to configure: install it, open Instagram, play a reel, switch tabs.
Instagram detects you leaving through three channels, and the script defuses each one:
document.visibilityState always reports visible, so polling never notices you left.visibilitychange, blur, focusout, pagehide and friends are captured at the window level before Instagram's listeners can react.pause() fired while the tab is genuinely backgrounded is dropped. Your own pauses still work normally, whether you click the video or use picture-in-picture controls.No data is collected, nothing leaves your browser, and the script only runs on instagram.com.
Settings > Site settings > Additional permissions > Automatic picture-in-picture.Found a bug, or did an Instagram update break something? Report it on GitHub.