How to add multiple photos to an Instagram story

Here’s a nugget of truth: if your Instagram Story is too long, followers aren’t likely to watch it all the way through, not even your closest friends and family.

Don’t worry. That’s just the nature of social media, where attention spans are notoriously low. If you don’t believe us, just think about how quickly you fly through Stories and posts as a viewer.

If you’re concerned with keeping eye on your content, you need to make highly watchable stories. One way to do that is by cutting down the time it takes people to get through the Story, which is as easy as limiting the number of slides. “But wait,” you may be saying. “What should I do if I have several essential slides I want to post to a Story?”

The answer is to group them. And Instagram has made this easy to do. You can make a collage that captures the spirit of several posts without overwhelming your followers.

In this article, we’ll explain how to add multiple photos to an Instagram Story, making the best post possible without the need for dozens of slides. Believe us when we say your followers are #hereforit.

What do you do when a single photo isn’t enough?

If people don’t make it all the way through your Stories, don’t look at it as a negative reflection of the content. You just need to learn to harness the power of Instagram to make a Story that’s oh-so-engaging within just a slide or two.

There are two main ways to add multiple pics to one Instagram Story – layers and the layout template. Here’s how to do both:

Use a layout

The layout feature on Instagram helps users make concise Story slides that look great. Follow these steps:

1. Open the Instagram app on your iPhone or Android and tap the + icon at the top of the screen.
2. Select Story.
3. You’ll see your camera roll, but you must bypass this step to post multiple photos.
4. Activate Create Mode by tapping on the camera icon.
5. Tap the third option from the top of the menu on the left-hand side of the screen. This is the Layout icon (a square with lines).
6. You’ll see a quadrant. If this is your desired layout, then you’re good to drop photos into it. You can either take new pictures or grab them from your library. To take a picture, hit the photo-capture button. If you want to choose an existing photo from your camera roll, tap the preview icon on the bottom left corner of the screen, then add the photos you want. This layout allows you to add up to four images, but you can also change the design to include fewer or more photos. See the next step to learn how.
7. To select a layout with a different number of images, enter Layout Mode by tapping on the grid icon. Choose the desired design and follow the steps above to add pictures.
8. When you're done creating, hit the checkmark in the top-right corner of the screen to finish your masterpiece.

How to make a collage on an Instagram story with the sticker tool

1. Open the Instagram mobile app and tap the + icon at the top of your screen.
2. Select Story.
3. Add a photo from your camera roll and resize it as needed. This image will be the bottom layer of your collage.
4. Now tap on the sticker tool at the top of the screen and scroll down to the camera roll tool.
5. Add another photo sticker to your Story and resize it as needed.
6. If you want to change the shape of this second photo, tap on it. You can choose between square and rectangular shapes – you can even use a circle, star, or heart.
7. Repeat steps four through six to add more photos to your collage.
8. When you're done creating, hit the checkmark in the upper right-hand corner of the screen to finish your masterpiece.

Top off your Story with some tunes

The sticker tool can do more than make photo collages. As the name implies, it can add stickers to your Story, but it can also add surveys, ask-me-anything fields, links, and music. Take your collage up a notch with some musical accompaniment that expresses the feeling of the moments in your photos. You can search a massive database of songs to find the perfect track.

How to add multiple photos to an Instagram post

You now know how to add multiple posts to a Story, but what about a feed post? Using the Carousel feature is easy.

1. Open the Instagram mobile app and tap the + icon at the top of the screen.
2. Select Post.
3. Click on the little icon that looks like layered photos above your photo reel. Clicking this icon is an essential step. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck wondering why you can't post multiple pictures on Instagram. Tiny circles will appear in the upper right-hand corner of all your photos – the circles will be filled in once you’ve selected the pictures you want to include.
4. Select up to 10 images and videos for your photo album (a.k.a. Carousel) by clicking on the little circles.
5. When you’re finished creating your post, tap Next in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Filter your photo as desired, write a caption, and tap Share.

There’s no such thing as too many memories!

Don’t feel bad if you want to post 25 pictures from your wedding day. Your account is a place to share the beauty of your life, so you’re free to go all in. If there’s something important enough that you want to share, don’t limit yourself. Follower engagement isn’t always the goal.

And if your followers don’t make it all the way through your Stories in the first 24 hours, you can make a permanent highlight of the slides so your friends can scroll through at their leisure later on.

Worried about overburdening your IG account with content? Consider linking to a picture-hosting page so committed followers can appreciate your stellar photography. Drop the link in your IG bio to make the content easy to find. And if you want to add multiple URLs, get a Linktree, which will branch out to several places on the web.