Instagram’s new Layout feature

One of the great things about Instagram Stories is that you can add as many photos and videos as you’d like without cluttering your followers’ feeds. Instagram is continually adding new features to enhance their Story experience. On December 17th, the platform introduced the new Layout feature to Stories. You can now add multiple photos to a single image in your Stories – achieving a collage-like effect.

Strike a pose. And another pose. And then another. 📸

With Layout, you can now capture and share multiple photos in your story — a new, creative way to express yourself. Check it out! pic.twitter.com/j02aYOjsoO

— Instagram (@instagram) December 17, 2019

How to use Layout:

To access the new feature, open the Stories camera and select Layout. You will then be able to choose between two and six photos to combine into a grid-based collage.

Here’s Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri trying it out for himself:

https://twitter.com/mosseri/status/1207076646122995714

How to add multiple photos to Instagram Story at once

It is also possible to add multiple photos and videos to your Stories at once, in your desired order. Sharing multiple images or videos in sequence helps the feature live up to its name: it tells a story in pictures. This keeps your followers interested, making them more likely to stick around and view your whole Story instead of swiping through to the next one.

Adding multiple photos to your Story is very similar to adding other kinds of content:

• Open the Instagram app.
• To add a story, either tap the camera icon at the upper left corner of your screen, swipe left, or tap the + symbol next to your profile photo.
• The camera page will open. Tap the gallery icon on the bottom left (where the most recent photo in your gallery will appear).
• To select multiple pictures, tap the “select multiple” icon on the top right corner of your screen. They will appear in your Story according to the order in which you select them. You can unselect by tapping again.
• Tap “Next.”
• In the Story editor, you’ll be able to edit each photo and add stickers or text. A preview of each photo will appear at the bottom of the screen. Tap the preview to edit the corresponding picture.
• When you’re done editing, tap “Next.”
• You’ll see a list of options of how to share the photos. To share to your Story, tap “Share” on the top item of the list.

Make sure you’re utilizing all of Instagram’s awesome tools to their fullest! Here are a few Instagram Story features you may not be using yet — but should be.