Instagram Highlights give you the chance to feature your best Stories front and center on your profile. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to get started with creating Highlights collections.
Good to know: did you know that you can now add music to your Instagram profile? Here’s how.
What Are Instagram Highlights?
Highlights is an Instagram feature that lets you group the Stories you’ve shared in the past and displays them on your profile. You can find the Highlights section just underneath the bio section. They appear as separate bubbles.
Even as Stories are usually less polished material compared to posts, you may still be proud of some of the Stories you’ve posted and would enjoy seeing them on your profile. This is where Highlights come into the equation.
Add Highlights to Your Instagram Profile
Adding Highlights to your profile is very easy, provided you’ve already accumulated a consistent library of Stories. By default, Instagram automatically archives your Stories, but you might have disabled this feature. Here’s how to make sure it’s still on.
Open the Instagram app and access your profile page. Tap on the hamburger menu in the upper-right corner of the display.
Find the Your app and media section and tap on Archiving and downloading.
Make sure the first option Save story to archive is enabled.
How to Create a New Highlight
On your Instagram profile page, press the + button in the top right corner. Select Story highlight from the pop-up menu that appears at the bottom.
Note: you can’t create a new Highlight from Instagram on PC, if you haven’t added Highlights to your profile before.
On the net page, select all the Stories you wish to include in your Highlight and then press Next.
Add a title for your Highlight. You can also the Edit Cover by uploading a separate image from your device. By default, Instagram uses one of the images you’ve included in the collection. Finally, press Done.
The Highlight has now been added to your profile. The collection of Stories will be visible once you press on the specific bubble underneath your profile information.
It’s worth noting that you can create Reels directly from a Highlight. Tap Create at the bottom.
Instagram will automatically turn your Highlight into a video slideshow featuring a musical background of your choice. You can also continue editing the Reel like you normally would. The result will be posted to your Instagram profile.
Now, if your profile already has Highlights and you want to add a new one, simply press the New button that appears after the last bubble.
You can also add a new Highlight from Instagram on PC. You should see and use the New button when you visit your profile.
FYI: check how to change the background color of your Instagram Story.
Add an Active Story to Highlights
If you’ve posted an Instagram Story and it’s still active, you should be happy to know that you can add it to a Highlight without having to revert to your profile.
Open the Story in question. Tap on the Highlight button at the bottom.
Select the Highlights you want to add the Story to. You can even create a new Highlight from scratch from this menu.
That’s it! The Story has been added to the desired group.
Add More Stories to Highlights
Suppose you forgot to add a few Stories to one of your Highlights, or you posted a recent Story that perfectly fits one of the categories of your Highlights. Luckily, you can easily add it to your profile.
On your Instagram profile, tap the Highlight you want to add more content to. Press the three dots in the lower-right corner of the display.
Select Edit highlight.
Switch to the Stories tab. Add more Stories from there and tap Done. The new Stories will now be part of that specific Highlight.
If you are accessing Instagram on a PC, open a Highlight gallery. Click the three dots in the upper right corner and select Edit.
Press Next on the following pop-up.
Switch to the Stories tab and add the extra images, then press Next.
Finally, change the cover of the Highlight if you want and press Done.
Delete Highlights from Your Profile
Locate the Highlight you want to delete from your Instagram profile. Long-press on it until a list of options is at the bottom. Select Delete Highlight, and that specific collection of Stories will disappear from your profile.
Alternatively, you can remove specific Stories from the Highlight album. To do so, press on the Highlight bubble and find the Story you wish to remove. Tap on the three dots in the lower-right corner. Press on the Remove from Highlight option from the menu that pops up from the bottom.
The Story will be removed from the group.
You can also remove select Stories from Instagram on PC. Open a Highlight and press Edit.
Then remain in the Selected tab and deselect the Stories you want to delete. Press Next to save the change.
Tip: download your Instagram chats complete with media by using this technique.
Customize Highlight Covers
Instagram Highlights is a great tool that allows you to organize your content based on topics and categories and then places it at the forefront of your profile. If you’re a brand, using this feature can be even more crucial, as it enables you to expand your interactions with your customer base. You can use Highlights to do many things:
- Share additional information about your brand
- Share tips and tricks
- Promote new arrivals
- Promote deals
- Show off customer testimonials and reviews
- Publish Q&A or polls
By default, Instagram automatically picks one of the photos included in a Highlight as the cover image. If, however, you want to go for a more polished or artsy look, you can download unique Highlight cover templates online. Below we’ve listed three tools that allow you to download such templates for free:
- Canva – Canva offers access to a pretty large library of Highlights cover templates. You can easily edit these designs if you find elements that you don’t like
- Freepik – known for its database of free images, Freepik also has options for cover templates for Highlights. Some require a premium subscription to use, but there are plenty of styles you can access without paying.
- Highlight Cover Maker – this mobile app offers easy access to a wide selection of templates for Instagram Highlights. Users can quickly edit the images before downloading them on their phones.
If you don’t know where to start when it comes to setting up your Highlights, all you need to do is look around the app to get inspiration. There are countless accounts doing Highlights right. Here are a couple of examples of profiles that impressed us.
Tip: learn to share content on Instagram only with your close friends.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Highlights can you add to your Instagram profile?
Instagram hasn’t imposed any limitations, so in theory, you can add as many as you want. There’s a limit, however, to how many Stories you can include in a single Highlight – 100.
Can I see who viewed by Highlights, just like Stories?
If you have a Story that is currently up and running and you’ve included it in a Highlight, you’ll be able to see who has viewed it so far. After 24 hours, this information will no longer be available. When it comes to older Highlights, it’s not possible to see who has viewed them.
Do your Highlights disappear after 24 hours in a similar fashion as Stories?
No, you can keep them for as long as you like on your profile. If you want to remove them from your profile, you’ll have to manually delete them.
Image credit: DepositPhotos All screenshots by Alexandra Arici
