Instagram Highlights let you pin Stories to your profile permanently without sharing them to your followers' feeds

Highlights are a way to display Stories on your Instagram profile that stay there indefinitely, separate from your regular feed. They appear as circular icons below your bio and let visitors see curated content — product photos, FAQs, behind-the-scenes clips, or anything else — without those Stories expiring after 24 hours or showing up in your followers' Story feeds.

The key difference: Stories you add to Highlights were already posted to your Story at some point. You cannot create a Highlight from scratch. Instead, you save existing Stories to a Highlight collection, or you post a Story and when ready add it to a Highlight before it disappears. If you want content on your profile that never appears in anyone's feed, Highlights are the tool.

Key Takeaways

  • Highlights display Stories on your profile permanently, visible only to people who visit your profile — not in followers' feeds.
  • You can only add Stories to Highlights that you have already posted; you cannot create Highlight content from scratch.
  • Stories added to Highlights still expire from your Story feed after 24 hours, but remain in the Highlight indefinitely.
  • You can create multiple Highlights with different names and cover images to organize content by topic or purpose.
  • Archived Stories and Stories from the past can be added to Highlights, so you do not have to act when ready when you post.

How to add a Story to a Highlight right after posting it

The fastest way to add a Story to a Highlight is while the Story is still live. After you post a Story, a small heart icon appears at the bottom of the screen. Tap the three-dot menu icon instead, and select "Add to Highlights." Instagram will show you a list of your existing Highlights or give you the option to create a new one.

If you are creating a Highlight for the first time, you will name it at this step. Keep the name short and clear — "FAQs," "Products," "Team," or "Before & After" work better than long descriptions. After you name it, you can choose a cover image (a still from one of the Stories in that Highlight) and a custom cover design if you want something more polished than a screenshot.

Once you confirm, the Story is added to the Highlight. It will still disappear from your Story feed after 24 hours, but it will remain in the Highlight on your profile permanently until you remove it.

How to add old Stories to Highlights

You do not have to add a Story to a Highlight when ready after posting. You can add Stories to Highlights days or weeks later, as long as you have not deleted them. Open your profile, tap the three-line menu, and select "Archive." Your archived Stories appear here — these are Stories that have already expired from your feed but that you saved.

Tap and hold any archived Story, then select "Add to Highlights." Choose an existing Highlight or create a new one. This is useful if you want to curate content over time — post Stories normally, then go back later and move the best ones to a Highlight.

If a Story is not in your Archive, it may have been permanently deleted. Once a Story is gone from your Archive, you cannot recover it or add it to a Highlight.

Creating and organizing multiple Highlights

You can create as many Highlights as you want, and each one can hold multiple Stories. Most people organize them by topic: one Highlight for product photos, another for customer reviews, another for team introductions. This makes it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for on your profile.

To create a new Highlight, go to your profile and tap the "+" icon below your bio (or tap "New" if you are adding to Highlights for the first time). Name it, choose a cover image from your Stories, and optionally customize the cover design. You can change the name, cover image, or order of your Highlights anytime by tapping and holding the Highlight and selecting "Edit."

Customizing Highlight covers

By default, Instagram uses a still image from one of the Stories in your Highlight as the cover. You can change this to a custom design that matches your profile aesthetic. When you create or edit a Highlight, tap "Edit Cover" to choose a different Story frame or to use one of Instagram's built-in cover designs.

If you want a more branded look, you can also use a third-party design tool like Canva to create a custom image, save it to your phone, and then upload it as the cover. This requires a workaround — you post the image as a Story, add that Story to the Highlight, then use that Story frame as the cover — but it gives you full control over the design.

Who can see your Highlights

Highlights are visible to anyone who visits your profile, including people who do not follow you. If your account is public, anyone on Instagram can see your Highlights. If your account is private, only your followers can see them.

Stories added to Highlights follow the same privacy rules as regular Stories. If you posted a Story with restricted visibility (for example, hidden from specific people), that Story will still be hidden from those people when it appears in a Highlight. You cannot change the visibility of a Story after adding it to a Highlight — you have to adjust the original Story's privacy settings.

Removing or deleting Highlights

To remove a single Story from a Highlight, open the Highlight, tap and hold the Story, and select "Remove from Highlight." The Story stays in your Archive but is no longer visible in that Highlight.

To delete an entire Highlight, go to your profile, tap and hold the Highlight, and select "Delete Highlight." This removes the Highlight from your profile but does not delete the Stories themselves — they remain in your Archive. You can recreate the Highlight later and add those Stories back if you change your mind.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do people see a notification when I add a Story to a Highlight?

No. Adding a Story to a Highlight does not send a notification to anyone. The Story was already posted to your feed (or archived), so followers have already seen it or missed it. Moving it to a Highlight is invisible to everyone except people who visit your profile.

Can I add a Story to a Highlight after it has already expired?

Yes, if you archived it. Stories automatically move to your Archive when they expire after 24 hours. You can add archived Stories to Highlights anytime. If you did not archive a Story and it expired, it is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.

Can I post something directly to a Highlight without it appearing in my Story feed?

No. Everything you add to a Highlight must be posted as a Story first. There is no way to create Highlight-only content that skips your Story feed entirely. However, you can post a Story, when ready add it to a Highlight, and then delete the Story from your feed — the Highlight will keep it.

What happens if I change my account from public to private?

Your Highlights will become visible only to your followers. Anyone who could see your Highlights before but does not follow you will no longer be able to see them. The Highlights themselves do not change — only who can view them.

Can I reorder my Highlights on my profile?

Yes. Tap and hold any Highlight and drag it to a new position. The order you arrange them in is the order they appear below your bio, left to right.