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Free tool

Safe zone checker for TikTok, Reels and Shorts

Drop in a vertical frame and see where each platform's own interface is going to sit on top of it.

Red is covered by the platform's own interface. The green dashed box is the band clear on all four at once — roughly the middle 66% of the height and 76% of the width. Anything that has to be read belongs inside it.

What this does

Every vertical platform draws its own controls over the video: a caption and a username along the bottom, a column of buttons down the right, a progress bar and a header at the top. Anything you place under them is invisible to the viewer even though it looked fine in your editor. This overlays the covered regions for TikTok, Instagram Reels, Instagram Stories and YouTube Shorts on your own frame so you can see what survives, and marks the middle band that is safe on all four at once — the area to keep any text you actually need read inside. The overlays are drawn as proportions of the frame rather than as fixed pixel offsets, so a 1080×1920 export and a 720×1280 one both check correctly.

How to check a video's safe zone

  1. 01

    Drop in a frame

    A still from the video, an exported thumbnail, or a screenshot of your timeline at the moment your title is on screen. Nothing is uploaded.

  2. 02

    Switch between platforms

    Each one covers a different part of the frame. The combined view shows the region that is safe on all of them, which is the one to design to if the same cut goes everywhere.

  3. 03

    Move your text and re-check

    Anything that has to be read belongs in the safe band. Decoration can live under the overlay — that is the difference between a covered element and a lost one.

Questions

What is the safe zone for a TikTok video?

Broadly the middle of the frame: keep roughly the top 10% and the bottom 20% clear, and the right-hand 15% clear of the button column. On a 1080×1920 canvas that leaves about 918×1344 in the middle that nothing covers, and text placed inside it is legible on every phone.

Is the safe zone the same on Reels and Shorts?

Close but not identical. Reels take more from the bottom because of the caption and audio row; Shorts take more from the right-hand side for the action column and put a title at the top. If one cut goes to all of them, design to the intersection rather than to any one platform.

Why is my text hidden even though it looked fine in my editor?

Because the editor shows only the video. The platform's own interface is drawn on top at playback and it is not part of your file. That is what this checks, and it is the single most common reason a title on a Reel is unreadable.

Does the safe zone change on tablets or on the web?

Yes — the interface is laid out differently, and generally covers less. Design to the phone, because that is where nearly all of the views are.

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