What Story Highlights Are and Why You'd Use Them

Story Highlights are collections of your Instagram Stories that stay on your profile permanently, even after the Stories disappear after 24 hours. When you create a Highlight, you choose which past Stories to include, give the collection a name, and pick a cover image. Visitors to your profile see these collections displayed below your bio, organized however you arrange them.

Most people use Highlights to organize Stories by topic — one for product launches, one for behind-the-scenes content, one for customer testimonials, one for frequently asked questions. Businesses often use them to showcase their best work or answer common questions without having to repeat the same Stories. The main advantage is that Highlights let you keep Stories visible indefinitely without cluttering your main feed.

Key Takeaways

  • You create a Highlight by saving an existing Story to a new or existing collection, then naming and customizing the cover image.
  • Stories must already exist before you can add them to a Highlight — you cannot create a Highlight from scratch without Stories to populate it.
  • Only you can see the option to add Stories to Highlights; visitors straightforward see the finished collections on your profile.
  • You can edit, delete, or rearrange Highlights at any time, and removing a Story from a Highlight does not delete the original Story from your archive.

How to Create Your First Highlight

Open Instagram and go to your profile. Tap the plus icon that appears below your bio, or swipe up on any Story you want to save. Select "Add to Highlights" from the menu. If you have never created a Highlight before, you will see the option to "Create New." Tap it, type a name for the collection (for example, "Products" or "FAQs"), and tap "Add." Instagram will automatically use the first frame of the Story as the cover image.

The Highlight now appears on your profile below your bio. You can add more Stories to this same Highlight later by opening any Story, tapping the three dots, selecting "Add to Highlights," and choosing the Highlight by name. Each time you add a Story, it appears at the beginning of the Highlight collection.

Customizing Highlight Covers and Names

The cover image Instagram assigns automatically is often just the first frame of a Story, which may not be the best visual representation of what the Highlight contains. You can change it. Go to your profile, long-press the Highlight you want to edit, and tap "Edit Highlight." Select "Edit Cover" to choose a different frame from any Story in that Highlight, or upload a custom image from your phone's camera roll.

While you are editing, you can also change the Highlight's name. Tap "Edit Title," delete the current name, and type a new one. Keep names short and clear — "Behind the Scenes," "Testimonials," or "New Arrivals" work better than long descriptions. When you are done, tap "Done" to save your changes. These edits are visible to anyone who visits your profile.

Adding Stories to Existing Highlights

You do not have to add all your Stories to Highlights at once. As you post new Stories, you can save them to Highlights later. Open any Story from your archive (tap your profile picture, then tap "Your Story" at the top), swipe up, and tap "Add to Highlights." Select the Highlight you want to add it to from the list. The Story will move to the front of that Highlight collection.

You can add the same Story to multiple Highlights if it fits more than one category. For example, a Story about a new product launch could go in both "Products" and "Announcements." Adding a Story to a Highlight does not remove it from your Story archive or change its visibility — it straightforward creates another way for people to find it on your profile.

Organizing and Rearranging Your Highlights

Instagram displays Highlights in the order you created them, left to right. To change the order, go to your profile and long-press any Highlight. Tap "Edit Highlight," then tap and hold the three horizontal lines next to the Highlight name. Drag it to a new position in the row and tap "Done." Most people put their most important or most-viewed Highlights first, since visitors see them when ready when they land on the profile.

You can also remove individual Stories from a Highlight without deleting the Highlight itself. Long-press the Highlight, tap "Edit Highlight," and swipe left on any Story you want to remove. Tap "Delete" to confirm. The Story remains in your archive and in any other Highlights you added it to — removing it from one Highlight does not affect the others.

Deleting Highlights You No Longer Need

If a Highlight no longer serves a purpose, you can delete it entirely. Go to your profile, long-press the Highlight, and tap "Delete." Instagram will ask you to confirm. Deleting a Highlight removes the collection from your profile but does not delete any of the Stories inside it — they remain in your Story archive and in any other Highlights they belong to.

You might delete a Highlight if it was tied to a limited-time event, a seasonal promotion, or a product line you no longer carry. You can always recreate it later by adding Stories to a new Highlight with the same name, or by adding new Stories to a different collection.

Privacy and Who Can See Your Highlights

Your Highlights follow the same privacy rules as your profile. If your account is public, anyone can see your Highlights without following you. If your account is private, only people you have approved as followers can see them. Stories you add to Highlights do not change their original visibility settings — if a Story was visible to only close friends when you posted it, it remains visible to only close friends even after you add it to a Highlight.

You cannot hide individual Highlights from specific people or make some Highlights private while keeping others public. The entire Highlights section is either visible to everyone who can see your profile or visible only to your followers. If you want to keep certain Stories private, keep your account private or do not add those Stories to Highlights.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I create a Highlight without any Stories in it?

No. You must add at least one Story to create a Highlight. Instagram does not allow empty Highlights on your profile. If you want to prepare a Highlight for future Stories, create it with one Story, then remove that Story later once you have new ones to add.

What happens to a Highlight if I delete the Stories inside it?

If you delete a Story from your archive entirely, it disappears from any Highlights it was part of as well. The Highlight itself remains on your profile, but with fewer Stories. If you delete all the Stories in a Highlight, the Highlight will disappear from your profile automatically.

Can people tell if I added an old Story to a Highlight?

No. When you add a Story to a Highlight, it does not notify your followers or change when the Story appears to have been posted. Visitors see the Story in the Highlight with its original timestamp, but there is no notification that you just added it.

Can I edit a Story after I add it to a Highlight?

No. Once a Story is posted, you cannot edit it. If you want to change what a Story says or shows, you must delete it and post a new one. If the Story is already in a Highlight, you would need to remove the old version and add the new one to the same Highlight.

Do Highlights count toward my Story limit?

No. Highlights are just collections of Stories you have already posted. They do not take up additional storage or count as separate posts. You can have as many Highlights as you want, and each Highlight can contain as many Stories as you want.