You can delete Instagram Highlights in two ways: remove individual stories from a Highlight, or delete the entire Highlight itself
Instagram Highlights are the circular icons on your profile that hold saved stories beyond the usual 24-hour window. If you want to clean up your profile or remove content you no longer want visible, you can delete a Highlight entirely, or you can remove just one or two stories from within a Highlight while keeping the rest.
The process differs slightly depending on whether you're using Instagram on your phone or a computer, and whether you want to remove one story or the whole Highlight. Both take less than a minute once you know where to look.
Key Takeaways
- Open the Highlight on your profile, tap the three dots in the top right corner, and select "Delete Highlight" to remove the entire Highlight and all its stories at once.
- To remove only some stories from a Highlight, open the Highlight, tap and hold the story you want to remove, then tap "Remove from Highlight."
- Deleting a Highlight removes it from your profile immediately, but the original story remains in your archive if you saved it there.
- On a computer, right-click the Highlight on your profile and select "Delete" from the menu that appears.
How to delete an entire Highlight on your phone
Open Instagram and go to your profile by tapping your profile picture in the bottom right corner. Find the Highlight you want to delete—it appears as a circular icon with a story preview inside. Tap the Highlight to open it.
Once the Highlight opens and you can see the stories inside, look for the three dots (also called the menu icon) in the top right corner of the screen. Tap those three dots. A menu will appear with several options. Select "Delete Highlight" from that menu. Instagram will ask you to confirm—tap "Delete" again to finish.
The Highlight disappears from your profile immediately. If you saved the original stories to your archive, they remain there and you can re-add them to a different Highlight later if you change your mind.
How to remove individual stories from a Highlight
If you want to keep the Highlight but remove only certain stories from it, open the Highlight the same way: go to your profile, tap the Highlight icon, and wait for it to load. Once you can see the stories inside, tap and hold (press and keep your finger on) the story you want to remove.
A menu will pop up with the option "Remove from Highlight." Tap that option. The story disappears from the Highlight, but the original story remains in your archive if you saved it. You can repeat this for each story you want to remove, one at a time.
This method is useful if a Highlight contains mostly content you want to keep, but one or two stories are outdated or no longer fit your profile's message.
How to delete a Highlight on a computer
Log into Instagram on a web browser and navigate to your profile. Find the Highlight you want to delete among the circular icons below your bio. Right-click directly on the Highlight icon.
A small menu will appear. Select "Delete" from the options shown. Instagram will ask you to confirm the deletion. Click "Delete" again, and the Highlight is removed from your profile. Like the phone method, the original stories remain in your archive.
What happens to your stories after you delete a Highlight
Deleting a Highlight does not delete the original stories themselves. If you saved those stories to your archive when you first posted them, they remain there in a folder called "Archive" on your profile. You can view archived stories by going to your profile, tapping the menu icon (three horizontal lines), and selecting "Archive."
From your archive, you can add those stories to a new Highlight, share them again, or leave them hidden. If you did not save the original stories to your archive when you posted them, they disappear after 24 hours regardless of whether they were in a Highlight.
How to add stories back to a Highlight after removing them
If you removed a story from a Highlight by mistake, or you want to add it back later, go to your archive and find the story. Tap the story to open it, then tap the plus icon or "Add to Highlight" button. Select the Highlight you want to add it to, or create a new Highlight with a custom name and cover image.
You can also add stories to Highlights while you're creating them. When you post a new story, you'll see an option to add it to an existing Highlight or create a new one before the story expires.
Why you might want to delete Highlights
People delete Highlights for different reasons. You might remove a Highlight about an old project or event that no longer represents your current work. You might delete a Highlight that contains personal information you've decided you don't want on your profile long-term. Or you might simply be reorganizing your profile and want to consolidate several small Highlights into fewer, larger ones.
Deleting a Highlight is not permanent in the sense that your stories are gone forever—they stay in your archive. It's permanent only in that the Highlight itself, with its custom name and cover image, is removed from your profile view.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I delete a Highlight, can I get it back?
No, once you delete a Highlight, it cannot be restored. However, the stories that were in that Highlight remain in your archive if you saved them. You can create a new Highlight and add those archived stories back to it, but the original Highlight with its custom name and cover image is gone.
Does deleting a Highlight notify my followers?
No, your followers do not receive a notification when you delete a Highlight. They simply won't see it on your profile anymore. If they had viewed it before, they won't be alerted to its removal.
Can I delete a story from a Highlight without deleting the original story?
Yes. Removing a story from a Highlight only removes it from that specific Highlight. The original story stays in your archive and remains visible to anyone who viewed it during the original 24-hour window, if you shared it publicly.
What's the difference between archiving a story and removing it from a Highlight?
Archiving a story hides it from your profile and followers, but keeps it in your archive folder. Removing a story from a Highlight just takes it out of that specific Highlight—the story itself remains archived or visible depending on what you did with it originally.
Can I edit a Highlight's name or cover image without deleting it?
Yes. Open the Highlight, tap the three dots, and select "Edit Highlight." You can change the name and upload a new cover image without removing any stories from it.