To add a highlight on Instagram, open your Story while it's still live and tap Highlight at the bottom, then pick an existing highlight or create a new one. For older stories, go to your profile, tap the New (+) circle under your bio, choose stories from your archive, tap Next, name it, pick a cover and tap Add or Done.
The next thing worth knowing: highlights stay on your profile until you remove them, while a normal Story disappears after 24 hours (Instagram Help Center). That's why highlights work like a shop window. Whatever you put there is the first thing a new visitor sees under your bio, long after the original Story has gone.
Route 1: add a Story to a highlight while it's still live
This is the quickest way, and it's the one I'd use day to day. You do it straight after posting, while the Story is fresh in your mind.
- Post your Story as normal.
- Tap your profile picture at the top of the feed to open your own Story.
- Look along the bottom of the screen and tap Highlight.
- Pick the highlight you want to add it to, or tap New to start a fresh one.
- If it's a new highlight, type a short name and tap Add. It now shows as a circle under your bio.
You can add the same Story to more than one highlight. A product photo can sit in both a "New in" highlight and a "Reviews" highlight if that's where people will look for it.
Route 2: build a highlight from your Story archive
Use this when the Story has already expired, or when you want to group a batch of older stories together in one go.
- Go to your profile.
- Tap the New (+) circle under your bio. If you already have highlights, it's the first circle on the left.
- Your Story archive opens. Tap each story you want to include; a tick appears on each one.
- Tap Next.
- Type a name for the highlight and tap Edit cover if you want a different cover image.
- Tap Add or Done, depending on your version.
If a button or menu name looks a little different on your phone, search Instagram's settings for the key word (for example "archive") and it'll take you to the right place.
What you want to do and where to tap
Once a highlight exists, almost everything else happens with a press and hold. Here's the quick map:
| What you want | Where to tap |
|---|---|
| Add another story | Open the live Story and tap Highlight, or press and hold the highlight, tap Edit highlight, then add from the Stories tab |
| Edit the name | Press and hold the highlight, tap Edit highlight, change the name, tap Done |
| Change the cover | Press and hold the highlight, tap Edit highlight, then Edit cover and pick a new cover image |
| Delete one story | Open the highlight, go to that story, tap the three dots, then Remove from highlight |
| Delete the whole highlight | Press and hold the highlight and tap Delete highlight, then confirm |
| Reorder highlights | There's no drag to reorder. Add a story to a highlight (or edit it) and it moves to the front |
| Limit who sees it | Stories first shared to Close Friends stay Close Friends only, and anyone in Hide story from can't see it |
The reordering rule catches a lot of people out. Instagram sorts highlights with the most recently updated one first. So if you want "Book now" sitting at the front, add a fresh story to it and it jumps back to the start of the row. Remove and re-add the same story if you've got nothing new.
Why Story archive has to be on
The catch: old stories only show up in the New (+) picker if Story archive is switched on. With it off, an expired Story is simply gone, and there's no way to add it to a highlight after the fact.
To check it, go to your profile, open the menu (three lines), then go to Settings, then Archiving and downloading, and make sure Save story to archive is turned on. It only saves stories from that point forward, so switch it on today even if you're not making highlights yet. You'll thank yourself in six months.
Archive is private. Nobody else sees it, so there's no downside to leaving it on. If you also want a copy on your phone, there's a separate option to save stories to your camera roll, which I explain in how to save an Instagram story to your camera roll.
Who can see your highlights
By default, anyone who can see your profile can see your highlights. On a public account, that's everyone. There isn't a separate privacy switch for highlights, so the only controls are the ones you set on the stories inside them.
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Second catch: a story you first shared to Close Friends stays visible only to Close Friends, even after you put it in a highlight. And anyone on your Hide story from list still can't see your stories inside a highlight. That's the only way to limit who sees a highlight, one story at a time.
If someone tells you they can't see your highlights, one of those two settings is usually the reason. I've gone through the other causes in why you can't see someone's Instagram highlights. And if you're wondering whether people find out you've looked at theirs, that's covered in does Instagram notify when you view highlights.
Which highlights a small business should keep
Highlights are the closest thing Instagram has to a menu. A new visitor lands on your profile, reads the bio, then looks at the circles. Too many and they skim past all of them. These are the ones I'd keep for most small businesses:
- Start here or About: who you are and what you sell, in a few frames.
- Reviews: screenshots of kind messages and customer posts, shared with permission.
- Products or Services: one highlight per main offer, not one per item.
- How to order or Book: the steps to buy from you, with your contact route.
- FAQ: answers to the questions you get in DMs every week.
Give them matching covers in your brand colours so the row looks tidy, and keep names short, since long ones get cut off under the circle. Delete any highlight that's about a sale or event that's over.
If it were my account, I'd keep five highlights at most, update the one I most want people to tap every week so it stays at the front, and switch Story archive on before doing anything else.
This guide is part of my Instagram Help: 81 Guides to Followers, Hashtags, Money, Accounts and Fixes.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I see my old stories when I make a new highlight?
Your Story archive was probably switched off when those stories were posted. Turn on Save story to archive in Settings under Archiving and downloading. It only saves stories from then on, so older ones can't be added.
How do I reorder my Instagram highlights?
You can't drag them. Instagram puts the most recently updated highlight first, so add a new story to the one you want at the front, or remove and re-add a story to bump it forward.
Does deleting a highlight delete the stories in it?
No. Deleting a highlight removes the circle from your profile. The stories stay in your Story archive, as long as archive was on when you posted them.
Can I hide a highlight from one person?
Not the whole highlight in one tap. Add that person to Hide story from in your Story settings, and they won't see your stories, including the ones inside highlights.
