Open Instagram and tap the camera icon

To post a story on Instagram, start by opening the Instagram app on your phone. At the top left of your home feed, you will see a camera icon next to your profile picture. Tap that icon to enter story creation mode.

If you do not see the camera icon, swipe left from the home feed instead — this opens the same camera screen. Either method takes you to the place where you can capture or upload content for your story.

Key Takeaways

  • Stories are posted from the camera icon at the top left of your feed, and you can take a new photo or video, or upload one from your phone's library.
  • After you capture or select an image, you can add text, stickers, filters, and drawings before posting it to your story.
  • Stories disappear after 24 hours unless you save them to your profile as a Highlight, which keeps them visible indefinitely.
  • You control who sees your story through privacy settings — you can hide it from specific people or make it visible only to close friends.
  • Stories posted at certain times of day tend to get more views, though the best time depends on when your followers are usually online.

Capture a photo or video, or choose one from your library

Once you are in the camera screen, you have two choices. You can take a new photo or video right now by holding down the circular button at the bottom of the screen. Release it when you are done recording — videos can be up to 15 seconds long per clip.

If you want to use a photo or video you already have on your phone, tap the small square thumbnail in the bottom left corner. This opens your phone's photo library, where you can scroll through and select any image or video you want to post. Instagram will let you trim videos to fit the 15-second limit if needed.

Add text, stickers, and effects before posting

After you have your photo or video selected, the editing screen appears. At the bottom you will see several icons for adding things to your story. The "Aa" icon lets you type text directly onto the image — tap it, type your message, and choose a font and color. The smiley face icon opens stickers, including emoji, location tags, time stamps, and interactive stickers like polls or question boxes.

The face icon with sparkles applies filters and effects that change the look of your photo or video. Swipe left and right to preview different filters before you choose one. You can also draw on your story using the pen tool — tap the marker icon, choose a color and brush size, and draw directly on the image. None of these additions are required; you can post a plain photo or video if you prefer.

Choose who sees your story

Before you post, you can control who sees your story. At the bottom of the screen, look for a button that shows your current privacy setting — it might say "Your story" or show a small icon. Tap it to change who can view what you post. Your options are usually "Everyone" (anyone on Instagram), "Close Friends" (a list you create), or "Hide story from" (specific people you choose to exclude).

If you do not change this setting, your story will use whatever privacy option you selected the last time you posted. This means if you posted a story yesterday with "Close Friends" selected, today's story will also go to close friends unless you change it. Check this setting each time if you want different people to see different stories.

Tap "Your story" to post

Once you are happy with your photo, video, text, and stickers, look for the button at the bottom that says "Your story" or shows a send icon. Tap it, and your story will post immediately. It will be visible to whoever you selected in the privacy settings for the next 24 hours.

After you post, you can see who has viewed your story by swiping up from the bottom of the screen while you are viewing it. Instagram shows you a list of names and how many times each person watched. You cannot edit or change a story once it is posted, but you can delete it by tapping the three dots in the corner and selecting "Delete."

Save stories to Highlights so they stay on your profile

By default, stories disappear after 24 hours. If you want to keep a story visible on your profile permanently, you can save it to a Highlight. After your story posts, tap it while it is still visible (within the 24-hour window), tap the bookmark icon or three dots, and select "Add to Highlights." You will then choose an existing Highlight or create a new one with a name and icon.

Highlights appear on your profile below your bio, and they stay there indefinitely. You can have as many Highlights as you want, and you can add multiple stories to the same Highlight. This is useful for organizing content — for example, you might have a Highlight called "Travel" that contains stories from different trips, or "Products" that shows things you recommend.

Understand what happens if you post at different times

Stories posted when your followers are actively using Instagram tend to get more views than stories posted when they are offline. However, the best time to post depends entirely on when your specific followers are usually online — there is no single "best time" that works for everyone. If most of your followers are in a different time zone, posting in the morning your time might mean posting in the middle of the night for them.

Instagram does not notify followers when you post a story the way it does for regular posts. Instead, your story appears at the top of their feed in a row of profile circles, and they see it only if they are scrolling through their feed. This means timing matters less for stories than it does for regular posts, but posting when people are actively using the app still increases the chance they will see it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I post a story from my computer instead of my phone?

Instagram's web version does not have a story camera, so you cannot create and post stories from a computer. You must use the Instagram mobile app on an iPhone or Android phone. If you want to post a photo from your computer, you would need to save it to your phone first, then upload it through the app.

What if I want to post multiple photos or videos in one story?

You can post multiple stories back-to-back, and they will appear as a series that viewers can swipe through. Each photo or video is a separate story post, but they stack together at the top of your follower's feed. There is no limit to how many stories you can post in a day, though posting too many might annoy your followers.

Can I undo a story after I post it?

No, you cannot edit a story once it is posted. You can only delete it entirely by tapping the three dots in the corner and selecting "Delete." If you made a mistake, delete the story and post a corrected version. Your followers will see the deletion, but the corrected story will appear as a new post.

Why can some people see my story and others cannot?

This happens when you have set your story privacy to "Close Friends" or "Hide story from." Check your privacy settings by tapping the button at the bottom of the screen before you post. If you selected "Close Friends," only people on that list can see it. If you selected "Hide story from," everyone except those specific people can see it.

Do stories count toward my follower count or engagement the way posts do?

Stories do not affect your follower count. They also do not show up in your main profile feed or get likes and comments the way regular posts do. Stories are a separate feature designed for temporary, casual sharing. However, interactive stickers like polls and question boxes do generate engagement that you can see in your story analytics.