What Instagram Highlights are and why they matter for your privacy

Instagram Highlights are collections of Stories you pin to your profile permanently, below your bio. Unlike regular Stories that disappear after 24 hours, Highlights stay visible until you delete them. This means anything you add to a Highlight is on display to anyone who visits your profile — including people you haven't accepted as followers, depending on your account settings.

The privacy trade-off is straightforward: you get a way to organize and showcase content, but you're choosing to keep that content visible longer and more prominently than a regular Story. Before you create a Highlight, decide what you're comfortable leaving on your profile indefinitely. A Highlight about your pet or your favorite books is different from one containing your location, your daily routine, or your relationship status.

Key Takeaways

  • Highlights are Stories pinned permanently to your profile, visible to anyone who can see your profile unless your account is private.
  • You can create a Highlight from existing Stories, from Stories in your archive, or by adding new content directly to a Highlight.
  • Each Highlight can have a custom cover image and name, so you control what label appears on your profile.
  • Deleting a Highlight removes it from your profile but does not delete the original Stories if they still exist elsewhere.
  • Private accounts show Highlights only to followers; public accounts show them to anyone, including people who don't follow you.

Creating a Highlight from a Story you've already posted

Open Instagram and go to your profile. Tap the plus icon that appears below your bio, or tap any Story in your Stories tray at the top of your feed and look for the "Add Highlight" option. Instagram will show you all Stories from the past 24 hours (or longer if you've archived them). Select the Stories you want to include — you can pick one or several.

After you select your Stories, Instagram asks you to name the Highlight. Use a name that makes sense to you and anyone viewing your profile: "Travel," "Pets," "Work," or "Books" are clear. Avoid names that reveal sensitive information like your workplace address, your daily schedule, or people's full names. Once you name it, tap "Add" and the Highlight appears on your profile when ready.

Adding new content directly to a Highlight

You don't have to create a Story first and then add it to a Highlight. You can create content directly in a Highlight by tapping the plus icon below your bio and selecting "Create Story." This opens the camera, and you can take a photo or video, add text, stickers, or filters, and then choose to add it to a new Highlight or an existing one instead of posting it to your regular Stories feed.

This method is useful if you want content on your profile but don't want it visible in your Stories tray for 24 hours. The content goes straight to the Highlight without appearing in your Stories feed at all. This gives you more control over what's visible to people scrolling through your Stories versus what's pinned to your profile.

Customizing Highlight covers and names

Once a Highlight exists, you can change how it looks on your profile. Long-press the Highlight and select "Edit Highlight." From here you can change the name, delete Stories from it, or change the cover image. The cover is what appears on your profile — a small circle with a preview of one of the Stories in that Highlight.

To change the cover, tap "Edit Cover" and choose a different Story from within that Highlight, or upload a custom image from your phone. Custom covers let you use a branded image, a solid color, or text — something that doesn't appear in the Highlight itself but just represents it visually. This is useful if you want the cover to say "Recipes" with a food emoji, but the actual Stories inside contain more detailed or personal information.

Controlling who sees your Highlights based on your account type

If your account is public, anyone on Instagram can see your Highlights, whether they follow you or not. They can visit your profile, scroll below your bio, and view every Highlight you've created. This includes people searching for you, people who've blocked you on other platforms, and strangers.

If your account is private, only people you've accepted as followers can see your Highlights. People who don't follow you see your profile but cannot view your Highlights, Stories, or posts. To change your account from public to private, go to Settings, tap "Privacy," and toggle "Private Account" on. This change applies to all your content, not just Highlights.

You can also hide specific Highlights from certain people without changing your whole account. Long-press a Highlight, select "Edit Highlight," and tap "Hide Story From." Choose the people you want to exclude. They won't see that Highlight on your profile, though they may still see the original Story if it's in your feed.

Deleting or archiving Highlights

To remove a Highlight from your profile, long-press it and select "Delete Highlight." This removes the Highlight circle from below your bio when ready. Deleting a Highlight does not delete the original Stories — if those Stories are still in your archive or your Stories tray, they remain there. You're only removing the permanent collection from your profile.

If you want to keep the Stories but hide the Highlight temporarily, you can archive the entire Highlight instead. Long-press it and select "Archive Highlight." The Highlight disappears from your profile but stays in your account. You can restore it later by going to Settings, selecting "Archive," and choosing "Highlight Archive," then tapping the Highlight and selecting "Unhide."

What to think about before adding something to a Highlight

Highlights are permanent in a way regular Stories aren't. Before you add something, ask yourself: would I be comfortable with this visible on my profile six months from now? A year from now? If someone visits my profile repeatedly, what pattern of information would they see across all my Highlights?

Avoid creating Highlights that reveal your routine, your location, your relationship status, or other details that could be used to track you or build a profile of your life. A Highlight called "Gym" with daily check-ins, or "Home" with photos of your front door, or "Date Night" with timestamps tells a story about your habits and whereabouts. Consider whether the convenience of organizing that content is worth the privacy cost of keeping it visible.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can people screenshot my Highlights?

Yes. Instagram does not notify you when someone screenshots a Highlight, the way it does for direct messages. Treat Highlights as permanently visible to anyone who can see your profile. Do not put information in a Highlight that you wouldn't want someone to save and share.

Do Highlights show up in my activity or my followers' feeds?

No. Creating or updating a Highlight does not send a notification to your followers or appear in their feeds. Only the original Story sends notifications when you first post it. After that, the Highlight is visible only to people who visit your profile directly.

Can I add Stories from other people to my Highlights?

No. You can only add your own Stories to Highlights. You can repost someone else's Story to your own Stories and then add that to a Highlight, but the repost will include a label showing it came from them.

What happens to a Highlight if I delete my account?

Your entire profile, including all Highlights, is deleted. If you deactivate your account temporarily instead of deleting it, your Highlights remain hidden until you reactivate.

Can I make a Highlight visible only to close friends?

Not directly. Your options are public (everyone sees it), private account (followers only), or hidden from specific people. If you want only close friends to see a Highlight, your best option is to make your account private and only accept close friends as followers.