Instagram Stories is a fun way to share your life, but you have to know how everything works. With this guide we show you around the possibilities.
iPhoned guide: Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories is a hit. Also known as Instagram Stories, you can share your life through photos, videos and texts in this section of Instagram. These images together form your story and last for 24 hours, after which they automatically disappear again. This part of Instagram has a lot of functions, which may not all be clear. That’s why we explain it in this guide.
- Serving stories
- How do I add my own story?
- These are the different types of stories
- This is how you add decorations
- This is how you add a mask
- This way you save stories in your camera roll and place them on your profile
- This is how you send personal stories
- In this way you muffle the stories of individuals
- You adjust these settings
Serving stories
You can view other people’s Instagram stories by tapping the round heads at the top of the screen. All available stories are then played one after the other without you having to do anything. Is it still too slow? Then tap the right side of the screen to go to the next part of someone’s story and the left side of the screen to step back. Hold your finger on the screen to pause the image.
Swipe left to skip an entire story and view the next person’s. Does anyone have a web link associated with a story? Then you swipe up to open it. You can also swipe up to reply to a photo or video.
How do I add my own story?
Adding a story yourself is easy. You do this by tapping the photo icon in the top left of the main screen, or by swiping to the right in the same screen. Then you have two options: take a photo or video in this new screen, or use images from your camera roll.
To create new images, use the large round button. Tap to take a photo, or hold the button to shoot a video. You can zoom by sliding your finger up while filming. By tapping the button at the bottom left, you can add images that are already on your device. Then tap the plus sign with ‘my story’ to add the images to your story.
These are the different types of stories
Within Instagram Stories you get the option to post different types of stories. You can find it by choosing an option at the bottom. We explain what options you have and how they work:
- Letters: Share a text with your followers. Change the style via the style button at the top. Change the color with the color button at the bottom left. By pressing the photo icon at the bottom right you place a photo in the background.
- Live: Start a live stream by tapping ‘Start live video’. You can add a face mask via the smiley next to the button.
- Normal: Post a photo or video that you possibly decorate. See the heading ‘How to add decorations’.
- Boomerang: By tapping the button once, Instagram takes a series of photos that are placed one after the other and move back and forth in a loop.
- Focus: Point the camera at a face and Instagram will blur the environment and make the face stand out.
- Superzoom: Choose this to automatically zoom in. Tap the music icon to choose a style, such as ‘dramatic’ or ‘bounce’. In this case, you only have to tap once to take a video.
- Playback video: Create a video that plays in reverse.
- Handsfree: Take a video without having to hold the button. Press the button once to start, or press and hold the button to display a timer first.
- Stop motion: Make a video by shooting a series of photos. Click on ‘done’ to see the result.
This is how you add decorations
Have you made or added something nice, then it is time to decorate the statue. You do that with the three decoration buttons at the top of the screen.
- You can add text via the ‘Aa’ button. You can choose the style of the text via the style button at the top.
- You draw using the brush button. The buttons at the top of the screen give you access to different brushes and an eraser.
- The sticker button opens up a world of options to make your images more fun. Here you will find, for example, emoji and other images, but also gifs, the location, a mention or a hashtag to paste on your images. Here you will also find the option to add a poll for your followers to vote on. This is how you add a poll. You also ask the viewers a question via the emoji slider. This is how you use the emoji slider.
This is how you add a mask
If a smiley with two plus signs appears when creating a story, you can add a mask. With a mask, a filter is placed over the image and digital objects such as glasses are added. Both face masks and environmental masks are possible. Choose a nice mask and take a photo and video with, for example, rabbit ears, summer glasses or a rainbow.
This way you save stories in your camera roll and place them on your profile
You may save your creations without publishing them. You do this via the ‘Save’ button next to the ‘Your story’ button. Once published, when viewing your own story, press the ‘More’ button and choose ‘Save’ to still save the images.
All your stories are automatically placed in an archive. You can find this archive by going to your profile and tapping the clock at the top right. View all your stories here. Press the ‘highlight’ button to place images on your profile.
This is how you send personal stories
You don’t have to show all your followers photos and videos that you take within Instagram Stories. You can also choose to send images to specific people. To do this, you do not press the plus button, but ‘Send to’.
You can also send personal messages by tapping the paper airplane in the top right of the main screen, which takes you to the Instagram message center. There you choose a person and tap the blue photo icon to take a photo or video with all the above options.
In this way you muffle the stories of individuals
Do you enjoy following someone and seeing her or his posts, but tired of the stories? Then press and hold a portrait at the top of the main screen and choose ‘Mute’.
You adjust these settings
Within Instagram Stories you will find a separate menu with a number of useful settings. You can find this menu by tapping the gear in the top left of Instagram Stories.
There you indicate, among other things, that you want to hide your stories from specific people. You also indicate who is allowed to comment, whether your message can be shared and whether your images can be automatically sent to your camera roll. The last option is the option to also share your images directly as a Facebook story.
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