Close Friends

To publish a Story to Close Friends, tap “Close friends” instead of “Your story” when posting.1 For a Reel, create the video and tap “Audience” before sharing.2 Then select “Close Friends” when Instagram asks whom you would like to share it with.2

To manage your Close Friends list, open your Instagram profile, tap the menu icon and select “Close friends” to add or remove people.1 You can change membership at any time, and Instagram does not notify people when you add or remove them.12 Instagram and Meta’s Newsroom say only you can see the list and other people cannot request to be added; Mosseri also says people cannot inspect their membership status.789 Recipients can nevertheless recognize when content was shared specifically to Close Friends.9 For Stories, Instagram identifies that audience with a green badge visible while viewing the Story.8

Mosseri explained in June 2021 that adding someone to Close Friends acts as an indication for Instagram to place that person’s content higher in your Feed and Stories.5 This affects the content you see from people you have marked as close friends.5 In May 2024, he described a Close Friends option within Limits that restricts account interactions to people on the list.4 He presented that option as a safety measure for difficult moments, including teens facing a change of school.4

A Meta patent describes using a close-friend designation to help suggest an audience for a social-network post.15 The Meta patent combines that designation with the quantity and quality of interactions between people to estimate their closeness and order potential viewers.15 The Meta patent also describes explaining why someone was suggested and allowing the poster to confirm or revise the audience before sharing.15