Stories

Creating a Story can start with the plus sign on your profile photo and an image or video from your camera roll.9 Instagram also introduced Type mode for text with styled backgrounds, without requiring a photo or video.10 A Feed post shared into a Story becomes a sticker that can be resized, rotated and moved, with attribution to the original account.11 When a public account mentions you in its Story, the notification in your Direct conversation offers an option to add it to your own Story, where the original poster's username remains tappable; Instagram's announcement restricts this resharing to public accounts.12

A colorful ring around someone's profile picture indicates a new Story, while Rings award winners receive a special gold ring on their profiles and in Feed's Stories section when they post.81314 Instagram has documented special collections, including a limited-time collection of donation-sticker Stories at the front of the Stories bar, and Mosseri announced plans to group Stay Home sticker Stories.1516 School Stories provide announcements from participating schools, clubs and teams for eligible US high school students, with educators able to manage or remove school-related content.17 A Meta patent proposes moving contacts with accessible temporary posts higher in an app's contact list and marking their availability, but this proposal does not establish that Instagram offers that discovery feature.18

Story editing includes text styles, background colors and highlighted words, alongside expressive stickers and seasonal effects such as the Diwali options documented by Meta's Newsroom.91019 Instagram's October 2025 Restyle announcement describes using Meta AI to add, remove or change image details through written instructions or preset effects, and Mosseri also encouraged creators to try it.2021 In July 2026, Instagram announced more than 30 additional AI-powered effects and a redesigned browser for previewing effects, with those updates limited to the US.22 The Link Sticker lets people share links in Stories regardless of follower count, according to Mosseri.23

Story question stickers collect questions that an author can answer in later Stories, while polls collect votes on a chosen question.5 Add Yours templates let people participate in shared prompts and pin elements such as stickers and gallery images.6 A Meta patent proposes a different form of collaboration in which a group chat supplies suggested contributors, themes or content for a shared Story; this is a proposal, not confirmation of an available Instagram feature.24

Close Friends lets an author share a Story with a chosen list, and only the author can see that list.3 Mosseri has also explained that authors can hide Stories from selected followers without blocking them or removing their ability to follow the account.2526 Stories settings can disable sharing through Direct; for a private account, only followers can view its Stories, and a Story shared in a message becomes unavailable when the original disappears.4

Story replies arrive through Direct, whereas a private Story Like appears as a heart beside the viewer in the author's viewer sheet rather than adding a message to the conversation.527 Photo and video replies can include a movable sticker of the original Story and arrive in the author's inbox.28 Creators can use the Story-reply filter at the top of their inbox to find these responses more quickly.29 Instagram Plus is a subscription that adds viewer-list search and aggregate rewatch information, without identifying who rewatched.30

Instagram's non-advertising Story pool starts with updates from accounts the viewer follows, and the system attempts to remove updates that may violate Community Guidelines.231 It considers viewing history, meaning how often someone watches an account's Stories, and engagement history, including previous likes and messages.31 It also considers the viewer's relationship with the author and how likely they are to be connected.31 Further integrity checks determine whether selected updates need additional measures before they can be included.2

Mosseri said in January 2025 that the most important Story predictions concern whether someone will open an update, like it or send a message in response.7 Meta patents explore related approaches that first order collections of temporary posts by likely selection and then order others by expected time spent, or combine selection likelihood with estimates of value and interaction.323334 Another Meta patent proposes learning from past viewing sessions and people's interactions to decide which temporary items should appear earlier in a limited-space Story area; these patent descriptions do not confirm Instagram's current implementation.35

The Stories Archive automatically saves updates in a collection that is private to the author.42 Its calendar view arranges saved Stories by date, helping people revisit earlier periods and see how often they shared.43 Its map view places Stories according to location stickers added when they were posted.43

Stories Highlights put selected archived updates on the creator's profile for others to view.4142 Mosseri recommends choosing some of a creator's best past Stories for this purpose.41 A profile can contain multiple Highlights to showcase material from across the years.41