Anya Zhukova · October 24, 2024 (Updated) · 7 min read Instagram stories are great for sharing the highlights of your day with your followers. Many users and influencers choose to share a bigger part of their content in stories rather than in regular Instagram posts. However, if you regularly upload many stories, it might discourage your followers from viewing them.
One way to save your followers time and effort is to use photo collages to post multiple pictures in one story. That way, they won’t have to go through multiple separate stories to see the same content. In this article, we’ll teach you how to make a collage in an Instagram story using the tools within the Instagram app and third-party apps.
How to Create a Photo Collage Using Stickers
There are multiple ways to share photos as collages on your Instagram stories. The first and most popular way is to use stickers. Stickers allow you to customize your stories further and add images, photos, graphics, and animations to your collage. You can also choose a simple colored background for your collage or select a background image from your phone gallery.
One more advantage of stickers is that Instagram doesn’t limit how many stickers you can add to your collage. This method is available to both Android and iOS users.
To create a photo collage using stickers, follow the steps below.
- Open Instagram on your smartphone.
- In the top-left corner of your home screen, select Your Story > Add to your story.
- Take a picture or select one from your camera roll to use as a background. If you prefer having a solid color background, use the brush tool to paint the image.
- To open the sticker options, slide up from the bottom of the screen or select the Sticker icon at the top of the screen.
- Select the Camera icon to add a real-life photo to your collage. To add a saved picture from your gallery, select the Gallery icon. You can rotate, resize, overlap, and move your images in any direction. You can layer as many images as you like and post them as one story. If you need to remove one of the images, hold and drag it down into the trash bin.
- You can then customize your photo collage and add music, stickers, text, and gifs.
- When you’re happy with the edits and ready to post your story, select Your story in the lower-left corner of the screen.
- If you don’t want to share your photo collage with everyone on Instagram, you can select Close friends in the bottom-right corner of the screen and manually choose the people that will see your Insta story. You can also select the arrow icon next to the Close friends to share your story on Facebook and send it to someone as a message.
How to Make an Image Collage Using Layout Mode
Instagram has a Layout feature you can use to easily create a photo collage and share it as an Instagram story. Creating a photo collage with Layout is even easier than using stickers. However, the layout option has its limits.
First, you will have to crop your pictures to fit a specific collage layout. You won’t be able to overlap them or add an unlimited number of pictures in the Layout mode. There are only five standard configurations that you can use, which allow you to add two, three, four, or six images and place them on your screen in a certain way.
If you want to create a photo collage in an Instagram story using the Layout feature, follow the steps below.
- Open Instagram on your smartphone.
- Select the plus icon on top of the screen > Story to create a new Instagram story.
- Select Layout from the menu on the left side. Then select one of the layout options to start making your photo collage.
- You can add pictures from your gallery or snap new photos and add them to your collage. To add your saved pictures, select the thumbnail icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen. To take a live photo, select the white circle with the layout icon at the bottom of the screen.
- Your pictures will be automatically inserted into the layout configuration that you chose. To delete an image from your collage, tap once on this image and select the trash bin icon to remove it.
- When finished adding the images, select the white circle with the check mark icon to continue.
- In the next step, you can add stickers, text, music, and gifs to your photo collage. When you’re happy with your Instagram story and ready to publish, select Your story or the Share icon to choose one of the alternative sharing options to upload it.
How to Make an Instagram Story Collage Using Third-Party Apps
Instagram has a limited set of features you can use to create a photo collage that will pop up. However, if you want to make a unique Instagram story that your followers will want to repost, and create your distinctive style, you’re better off using one of the third-party apps & collage makers.
The best apps in this sphere have diverse features, special effects, fonts, and various photo editing options that will help you breathe life into your Instagram stories. Here are a few quality photo collage apps to get you started.
1. Layout from Instagram
Layout is a dedicated app by Instagram that allows you to quickly create a photo collage using the pictures from your camera roll. It works similarly to the Layout mode on Instagram but gives you more configurations and control over how to place your photos on the screen.
One of the handy features you can use in the Layout app is Faces. It scans all the photos on your smartphone and handpicks those that have people on them.
Price: Free.
Download: for Android, iOS.
2. Adobe Express
While you can’t use your computer to add new stories on Instagram, you can still use it to design your stories and then upload them from your smartphone. One of the apps that allows you to do that is Adobe Express (ex Adobe Spark Post). The app is available as a web tool, as well as for Android and iOS.
Adobe Express is perfect for beginner users who don’t have any experience with photo editing. The app has plenty of templates you can edit, different fonts, filters, and even stock photos that you can use in your collages. You can use Adobe Express to design photo collages for your Instagram stories and regular posts, banners, and ads for any social media platform.
Price: Free, Premium subscription available.
Download: for Android, iOS, and Web.
3. Canva
For more advanced users who want to use professional-level photo editing features, we recommend Canva. It’s an all-in-one graphic design platform you can use to create any type of design.
You can use Canva to create a to-notch photo collage. In the Photo Collage menu, you’ll find thousands of templates that you can use and edit to add your own pictures and elements. You can also use a blank canvas to make your collage from scratch using the app’s tools. Canva has a free plan for all users and is available for Android, iOS, and desktop users. You only need to create an account to get started.
Price: Free, Premium subscription available.
Download: for Android, iOS, and Web.
Use Photo Collages to Make Your Instagram Stories Pop
Photo collages are great for when you want to share multiple photos with your followers but also don’t want them to get tired of scrolling through your stories and posts. Try using Instagram native tools for creating collages, as well as some third-party apps, and see which method works best for you.
