Safe zones in vertical video: keep your text out from under the buttons

You filmed a clean product video, added a bold price, and posted it. On the phone, the price sits right behind the like button, or the product name disappears under the caption. The viewer has to guess what the mug costs, and most won't bother.

This is not bad luck, and it is not fixed by memorizing one margin number. Every app draws its own layer over your video, and those layers change. A better approach is to draw your own map from each app's real playback screen, then design to that map. This article shows how.

What actually covers your video

A vertical video is a 9:16 picture (as of November 2026, the shape the main short-video feeds are built around; check the help centers for Instagram (opens in a new tab), TikTok (opens in a new tab) and YouTube (opens in a new tab) for current guidance). But the picture is only the bottom layer. On top of it, each app draws things such as:

• the account name and profile picture
• the caption, often cut to a line or two with a "more" prompt
• a sound or music label
• a column of action buttons on the side (like, comment, share and more)
• a progress bar
• sometimes a shop, product or link tag

Where these sit, how big they are and how much of the screen they take differ by app. They also shift when an app updates, when a caption is longer, or when a post carries a product tag. That is why a single "universal safe margin" is unreliable: it is a guess about several moving targets.

For a shop, the elements that get lost are the ones that sell:

• the price
• the product name
• the discount badge
• the website prompt
• the logo

A covered price is not only a design flaw. The viewer who cannot see the price, or cannot tell what the product is called, scrolls on. Safe zones are a selling matter first and a design matter second.

Some views also crop the picture. A profile grid, for example, may show only part of the frame. So a good layout keeps the important content away from the edges altogether, not only from the buttons.

Draw your own safe-zone map in ten minutes

You need a phone with each app you post to, a computer or phone editor that can stack images, and about ten minutes. No numbers from anyone else are required, because the apps will show you.

Step 1: make a plain test video

Create a short video, about ten seconds, that is just a picture with a visible grid. Use 9:16 proportions, fill it with colored blocks, and label each block with a letter and number (A1, A2 and so on) so you can say exactly which cell is hidden. Making it a few seconds long lets the progress bar appear too.

Upload it from the same route you use for real posts.

Step 2: view it inside each app

Post the test video as a draft, or with the most private visibility the app offers, so no customer sees it. Do not delete it until you have finished the next step.

Then open it the way a viewer would, in the normal playback screen with the app's interface showing. Take a screenshot. Do this on every network you post to: Reels, TikTok, Shorts.

The editing preview and the real playback screen are not always the same. Always screenshot the playback screen.

Step 3: mark what is covered

Open each screenshot in any editor. Put the original grid next to it, or lay the screenshot over a 9:16 canvas. For each app, mark the covered areas in one color. You will find they fall into three groups:

• Top zone: status bar, search or tab buttons, sometimes a label.
• Bottom zone: account name, caption, sound label, progress bar.
• Right edge: the button column.

Note which grid cells each one touches. You now have one map per network.

Step 4: merge the maps

Stack all the maps on one canvas, each in a semi-transparent color. The union of all covered areas is your combined "danger" area. What stays clear in every network is your safe area. Because you merged them, one video can serve several networks without a separate edit for each.

If one network covers far more than the others, you have a choice: design to the strictest map for a single universal video, or keep a second layout for that one network. For a small shop, the single universal layout is usually the simpler habit.

Step 5: save it as an overlay

Export the merged map as a transparent image. Keep it with your editing templates, next to your logo files. Drop it on top of your timeline when you edit, and hide it before export. A short note in the file name, such as safe-map-2026-11, records when you checked.

Where each element of a product video belongs

With the overlay on, placement becomes a lookup, not a debate. Here is a decision table to start from. "Safe middle" means the area your merged map leaves clear.

The rule underneath the table: text that must be read goes in the safe middle; decoration may use the edges.

A worked example: a ceramic mug

Imagine a small shop with a blue ceramic mug priced at $24. Here is the original video, scene by scene, and the fix.

Scene 1: the hook. The mug sits on a wooden table. The name "Harbor Blue Mug" was at the top of the frame, where the app's top buttons sit. Fix: move it down into the upper part of the safe middle, above the mug but well clear of the red band.

Scene 2: pouring coffee. The subtitle ("Holds a full morning's coffee") sat at the very bottom, under the caption. Fix: lift it above the caption zone on the overlay, so it appears over the table, not over the account name.

Scene 3: the price. A round badge reading "$24" sat on the right side, exactly where the like and share buttons are. Fix: move it to the left of center, inside the safe middle, next to the mug. Add "Sale ends Sunday" under it, also inside the safe area.

Scene 4: the closing frame. The logo and "Shop link below" were crammed at the bottom edge. Fix: put a smaller logo in the safe middle, say "Link in the caption" in the voice-over, and put the actual address in the caption.

The footage is the same. Only the placement changed.

If you use a tool to generate videos, say where text goes in the brief itself:

Vertical 9:16 video of a blue ceramic mug on a wooden table.
Keep the mug centered.
Keep all text in the middle band of the frame, away from the right edge and from the bottom.
Price badge left of center.
No text at the very top or very bottom.

Check the result against your overlay anyway. A prompt asks; the overlay verifies.

Burned-in text or native text: which to choose

There are two ways text gets on a video, and they behave differently.

Burned-in text is added in your editor and becomes part of the picture. It cannot move after export, so it must respect your safe-zone map. The upside is that it travels with the file, so the same video works on every network and in every place you reuse it.

Native text is added inside the app, using its own text tools. You can position it while the app's interface is visible, so you see exactly what is covered. The downside is that it lives inside that app. If you reuse the video on another network, the text is gone.

A practical rule: put the one message that cannot be lost into the picture, inside the safe zone, and put everything else in the caption. For a shop, that one message is usually the product name plus the price, or the offer and its end date. Delivery details, sizes, materials and the address belong elsewhere.

That elsewhere is the caption and the first comment. They carry the link and the details, so the video does not need small print. A video with one clear message and a caption with the details reads better than a video crowded with text at the edges.

Also think about silent viewing. Many people watch with the sound off, so spoken details should be backed by short text in the safe middle.

Checklist before you publish

Copy this into your publishing routine.

• Safe-zone overlay applied while editing, then hidden before export
• Price and product name sit inside the safe area
• Nothing important in the outer edges, especially the right edge
• Subtitles sit above the caption zone
• Offer end date, if any, is next to the price and inside the safe area
• Posted as a draft or private test and viewed on at least one real phone, with the app open
• Viewed with the sound off: the message still makes sense
• Checked on a second phone with a different screen shape, if possible
• Link and details are in the caption or first comment, not in small print
• The map's date is within the last few months

Why a real phone? A desktop preview does not show the app's real interface layer. And screens differ: the same video can look more cropped on a tall, narrow phone than on a shorter one. Borrow a colleague's phone if you only have one model.

Keep the map current

A safe-zone map is a snapshot. Apps change their layout, so treat the map as something with a date.

• Redo the check when a network updates its app, or when a post looks different from the previous one. A new button, a taller caption block or a new product tag can move the covered areas.
• Read each network's own help pages for current guidance on vertical video: Instagram (opens in a new tab), TikTok (opens in a new tab) and YouTube (opens in a new tab). If you find size or margin figures there, use them only as of the date you read them, and treat your own screenshots as the final check.
• Compare before and after. Once you have fixed placement, look at your analytics for posts from before and after the change. Treat what you see as an observation, not a promise: many things affect how a video performs, and a clear price is only one of them.

The habit, in one line: map, overlay, draft test, publish. Ten minutes for the map pays off every time you edit afterward, and a price that people can actually read is worth the effort.

How we do it at SemPost

In SemPost's Video Studio, Safe area above the preview darkens the parts of the frame where Reels, TikTok and Shorts put the account name, the caption and the buttons. When the product, a line of text or the closing card falls under a dark part, you change that shot's camera move or move its text to Top or Bottom, then watch the free draft again. The darkening appears only in the preview, never in the video. Sound, the draft and the final (opens in a new tab) walks through it.

Frequently asked questions

What is a safe zone in vertical video?

A safe zone is the part of a 9:16 video frame that no app covers. Apps draw their own layer over a vertical video, such as the account name, the caption, a sound label, a column of buttons and a progress bar, so text under those elements cannot be read. The safe zone is what stays clear in every app you post to.

Why not use one standard safe margin for every app?

Apps place their buttons, captions and labels differently, and those positions shift when an app updates, when a caption is longer or when a post carries a product tag. A single universal margin is a guess about several moving targets; a map drawn from screenshots of each app's real playback screen shows what is actually covered.

Where should the price go in a vertical product video?

The price belongs in the safe middle of the frame, away from the right edge where the action buttons sit and above the bottom area where the caption and account name appear. An offer end date goes next to the price, also inside the safe area. A covered price makes viewers guess what the product costs, and most scroll on.

Should text be burned into a video or added in the app?

Burned-in text travels with the video file and works on every network, but it cannot move after export, so it has to respect the safe-zone map. Text added in an app can be placed while the interface is visible, but it stays in that one app. A practical rule is to burn in only the one message that must not be lost, usually the product name and price, and put the rest in the caption.

How often should a safe-zone map be redone?

Redo the map when a network updates its app, when a post looks different from the previous one, or when the map is more than a few months old. A new button, a taller caption block or a new product tag can move the covered areas, so the map file should carry the month it was made.