Instagram Stories disappear after 24 hours by default — but Highlights are the exception. When you save a story to a Highlight, it lives permanently on your profile, displayed as a circle just below your bio. Highlights are one of the most powerful parts of your Instagram profile because they give you a way to organize and permanently showcase your best content for new visitors and returning followers alike.
This guide covers everything: how to create Highlights, how to add stories to them, how to design cover images, and how to use Highlights strategically for your brand.
Why It Matters
Profile visitors look at Highlights within the first few seconds of visiting your page. A well-organized set of Highlights acts like a secondary navigation menu for your brand — directing people to your products, services, FAQs, reviews, behind-the-scenes content, and anything else that is valuable and permanent.
For businesses, Highlights reduce the friction between "someone found my Instagram" and "someone understands what I offer." Instead of having to scroll through dozens of posts to understand what a business does, a visitor can tap a Highlight labeled "Menu", "Our Story", "Testimonials", or "How It Works" and get exactly the information they need in seconds.
What You Need Before You Start
You need an active Instagram account. Highlights are available on Business, Creator, and personal accounts. To add a story to a Highlight, the story must already exist — either as a currently live story or as an archived story. Instagram automatically archives all stories you have posted, so you can access past stories even if they have expired from public view. If story archiving is turned off on your account, enable it in Settings and privacy → Account → Story controls → Save story to archive.
Step-by-Step Guide
Creating a New Highlight
Step 1: Go to Your Profile
Open Instagram and navigate to your profile by tapping your profile photo in the bottom right.
Step 2: Tap the "+" Circle Below Your Bio
Below your bio and above your posts grid, you will see a row of Highlights (if you have any) and a + circle labeled New. Tap this + button to create a new Highlight.
Step 3: Select Stories to Include
Instagram will show you your Story Archive — all the stories you have ever posted (as long as archiving was enabled). Browse through them and select the stories you want to include in this Highlight. Tap each story to select it. You can select multiple stories. Tap Next when you are done selecting.
Step 4: Name Your Highlight
On the next screen, give your Highlight a name. This name appears below the Highlight circle on your profile. Keep it short — long names get cut off. Aim for 1–3 words. Examples: "Menu", "Reviews", "About Us", "Our Work", "Products", "FAQ", "Behind the Scenes".
Step 5: Choose a Cover Image
You can choose a cover image for the Highlight — this is the image that appears in the circle on your profile. You have two options:
- Select from the stories in this Highlight: Tap Edit cover and choose one of the stories you selected.
- Upload a custom image: Tap Edit cover → scroll or choose a photo from your camera roll. This lets you use a branded icon, illustration, or consistent visual that matches your brand's style.
Custom covers give your profile a much more polished look. Many brands design sets of matching Highlight covers — circular icons with consistent colors and simple symbols — to create a cohesive visual identity.
Step 6: Tap "Add"
After naming and setting the cover, tap Add to create the Highlight. It will appear immediately on your profile below your bio.
Adding Stories to an Existing Highlight
Method 1: From a Live or Archived Story
While viewing a story (either a live one or one from your archive), tap the three-dot menu or look for a Highlight button at the bottom of the screen. Tap Add to highlight and select which Highlight you want to add it to.
Method 2: From the Highlight Itself
On your profile, long-press the Highlight circle you want to edit. A menu will appear with the option Edit highlight. From there, you can add or remove stories, change the cover, and rename the Highlight.
Removing Stories From a Highlight
Long-press the Highlight on your profile → Edit highlight → tap any story that is currently in the Highlight to deselect (remove) it → tap Done.
Deleting a Highlight
Long-press the Highlight on your profile → Delete Highlight → confirm. This removes the Highlight from your profile but does not delete the original stories from your archive.
Common Issues and How to Fix Them
I cannot find old stories in the archive. Make sure story archiving was enabled at the time those stories were posted. Go to Settings and privacy → Account → Story controls and check that Save story to archive is turned on. If it was off when you posted those stories, they are gone — you cannot recover unarchived stories. Enable archiving now to protect future stories.
My Highlight cover is not saving. Sometimes app glitches prevent cover changes from saving. Try closing and reopening Instagram, then editing the Highlight cover again. Make sure you are tapping Done or the save button after selecting the cover.
The Highlight circle looks blurry or pixelated. Instagram displays Highlight covers as small circles, so images with fine detail or text look blurry. Use simple, bold visuals for covers — icon-style graphics work much better than photographs with text.
I can only see some of my archived stories. Stories older than a certain period may not be readily visible in the archive selector. Scroll to the bottom of the archive and wait for older content to load. Instagram archives are stored indefinitely but may require scrolling to access older entries.
Tips to Get the Most Out of Instagram Highlights
Plan your Highlight categories before you start posting. Decide what Highlights you want to maintain — for a restaurant, this might be Menu, Events, Team, Behind the Scenes, and Testimonials. Then create stories with those categories in mind, knowing they will end up in a permanent Highlight.
Design custom Highlight covers. A set of matching covers — consistent color scheme, simple icons, clean design — makes your profile look intentional and professional. Design them in Canva, Adobe Illustrator, or a similar tool, and use them across all your Highlights for a cohesive visual identity.
Keep each Highlight focused. Do not cram unrelated stories into the same Highlight. Each Highlight should have a clear theme. If a Highlight starts to feel cluttered or unfocused, create a sub-category or archive the oldest stories to keep it tight.
Update Highlights regularly. Highlights are permanent, but your content should not be. Remove outdated stories (old promotions, past events, discontinued products) and replace them with current, relevant content. Stale Highlights signal a neglected account.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can other people's stories be added to my Highlights?
No. You can only add your own stories to your Highlights. However, if someone tagged you in their story and you re-shared it to your own story, that reshared version can be added to a Highlight.
Is there a limit to how many Highlights I can create?
Instagram has not published an official maximum number of Highlights. In practice, you can create many Highlights, but having too many makes each one harder to find. Aim for 5–10 well-organized Highlights rather than 20 loosely themed ones.
Can Highlights be set to private?
No. Highlights inherit your account's privacy setting. If your account is public, your Highlights are visible to everyone. If your account is private, Highlights are only visible to your approved followers. You cannot set individual Highlights to be visible only to certain followers.
How many stories can I have in one Highlight?
There is no strict limit to the number of stories in a single Highlight. However, very large Highlights (with dozens of stories) become cumbersome for viewers to browse. Aim for 10–30 stories per Highlight for a good balance of depth and usability.