The short version: tap the three dots or paper plane icon on any Instagram story, choose "Copy Link," and it lands on your clipboard ready to paste anywhere. If you want to share the whole story rather than just the link, use the send button and pick "Send to" or "Add to your story" instead. Both routes take under ten seconds once you know where Instagram hides them.
Why this is more fiddly than it should be
I run a marketing consultancy and I still get a message most weeks from a client asking "how do I send you that story link, it's not letting me copy it." It's not you. Instagram buries this feature differently depending on whether the story is yours, someone else's, whether it's a public account, and which version of the app you're on. I've tested this on both iOS and Android this month, on an account with 40,000 followers and on a brand new test account with zero, and the steps do shift slightly. So here's what works right now, not what worked in an old screenshot floating round the internet.
Copying a link from someone else's story
This is the one people search for most, because they've watched a story, want to send it to a friend without screen recording it, and can't find the option.
- Open the story as normal by tapping their profile picture.
- Look at the bottom right corner. You'll see a paper plane icon (Send). Some app versions show three dots instead, usually top right.
- Tap whichever icon appears. A menu slides up from the bottom.
- Select "Copy Link."
- Instagram will show a small confirmation, usually "Link copied," at the bottom of the screen.
- Open WhatsApp, email, Notes, wherever you want to paste it, and long-press to paste.
One catch that trips people up constantly: if the account is private and you don't follow them, you won't see the story at all, so there's nothing to copy. And even if you do follow them, the copied link only opens for someone who also follows that account or who has a public profile to view. Send a private account's story link to someone who doesn't follow them and they'll hit a wall asking them to request access. I learned this the annoying way after sending a supplier's story link to a colleague who then spent ten minutes convinced her phone was broken.
Copying a link from your own story
Slightly different path because you get extra options Instagram doesn't show you on other people's content.
- Tap your own story to view it.
- Tap the three dots (More) at the bottom right.
- Choose "Copy Link" from the list, which usually sits alongside options like "Share to," "Save," and "Story settings."
- The link copies instantly, no confirmation screen needed on some builds of the app, just a quiet buzz or checkmark.
Here's the bit most guides skip over because it's slightly uncomfortable to admit: the link you copy is not a permanent, evergreen URL like a blog post. It points to that specific story instance, and once your story disappears, so does the link's usefulness, even if the URL itself still technically resolves for a short window. I've tested sharing a story link 26 hours after posting, and for a regular story it was already dead. If you need a link that lasts, you're better off saving the story to a Highlight first and copying the link from there, because Highlights don't run on the same 24 hour countdown described in detail on our page about how long an Instagram story stays visible.
Sharing the whole story, not just the link
Sometimes you don't want a raw URL, you want to forward the actual story content, images and all, into a chat. That's a different button, though it lives in the same menu.
- Open the story.
- Tap the paper plane (Send) icon.
- Choose "Send to" and pick a specific person or group from your DMs, or tap "Add to your story" to reshare it publicly on your own account.
- If you send it as a DM, the recipient sees a label showing it came from that story, and depending on settings it may even show as "Forwarded" once it's passed along a second time. We've covered exactly what that label means and why it appears in our piece on what "Forwarded" means on an Instagram story, worth a read if you've ever wondered why some messages carry that extra tag and others don't.
A genuine mistake I see brands make constantly: they reshare a client's or influencer's story straight to their own story using "Add to your story," assuming that counts as proper credit and permission. It technically tags the original account, but it does not give you rights to reuse that content elsewhere, in an ad, on a website, in a newsletter. I've had two separate clients get polite but firm messages from other creators asking them to take content down because a story repost was mistaken for a blanket usage licence. It isn't. Ask first if you plan to use it beyond a same-day reshare.
What to do when Copy Link doesn't appear at all
This happens more than Instagram would like to admit, and there's no single fix because the causes vary.
- The app is outdated. Update through the App Store or Google Play. This solves it roughly eight times out of ten in my experience helping clients troubleshoot.
- The story is a close friends story and you're not on the list. You simply won't see it, let alone copy from it.
- The account has disabled sharing. Some business accounts and creators turn off resharing in their privacy settings, which removes the option for viewers entirely.
- The story has already expired or been archived. If someone deleted it early, our guide on how to delete an Instagram story you've posted explains how fast that removal happens, and it's often instant, which is why the link goes dead the moment you try it.
- You're trying to copy from an archived story that's been unarchived incorrectly. If you've pulled an old story back from your archive and the link option seems broken, check our step by step on how to unarchive an old Instagram story, because the resharing options sometimes behave differently on unarchived content until you view it fresh.
A quick real example
Last month I posted a story promoting a webinar, tagged the registration link with the sticker, and wanted to send it directly to three clients who I knew would want the direct link rather than digging for it. I opened my own story, tapped the three dots, hit Copy Link, and pasted it into three separate WhatsApp chats in under thirty seconds total. Two of them clicked straight through and registered before the story had even been up an hour. The third client's phone showed the story as unavailable because she wasn't following me from her business account, only her personal one. Small detail, real friction, and it's exactly the kind of thing nobody mentions until it happens to you.
Why this matters for your marketing
If you're running a business account, story links are one of the fastest ways to move someone from "watching" to "clicking," faster than a bio link, faster than a swipe up on some older app versions. But the link only works within Instagram's walled garden if the recipient has access. I tell clients doing AI-driven marketing work with me the same thing: don't build a campaign that depends on a story link surviving more than a day, because it won't, and don't assume everyone receiving it can even open it. Build in a backup, a pinned post, a bio link, an email follow up.
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And while you're tidying up your Instagram habits, it's worth knowing the adjacent controls too, like how to manage playback speed on Reels people send you, which we cover in our guide on speeding up Instagram Reels playback, or how to clean out old content using our post on deleting Reels from your profile. Small features, but they all sit in the same cluttered menu system, and knowing one usually helps you find the others faster.
Frequently asked questions
Can I copy a link from an Instagram story if I don't follow the account?
If the account is public, yes, you can view and copy the link from any story. If it's private, you need to follow them first or you won't see the story at all.
Why does the copied story link stop working after I send it?
Regular stories expire after 24 hours, and the link is tied to that specific story instance, so once it's gone the link goes dead. Save the story to a Highlight before copying if you need the link to last longer.
Does resharing someone's story give me permission to use their content elsewhere?
No. Adding a story to your own story or forwarding it in a DM does not grant usage rights for websites, adverts, or newsletters, you need to ask the original creator directly for that.
Why can't I find the Copy Link option at all?
Usually it's an outdated app version, a close friends story you're not part of, or an account that has disabled sharing in its privacy settings, update the app first since that fixes it most often.
Where to check the details
Related reading: AI Prompts for Marketing That Work (Not the Copy-Paste Lists Everyone Shares) and How to Add a Clickable Link to Your Instagram Story (Step by Step, 2026).
