Tired of cluttered Instagram highlights? You’re not alone!
However, you want to delete them but somewhere inside feeling guilty.
The solution is:
Hide those highlights without goodbyes.
Yes, you can hide Instagram highlights from someone without deleting them.
Instagram offers three methods: Story Privacy settings (blacklist specific users), Close Friends (whitelist select people), and Archiving (removes highlights from your profile while keeping stories safe).
In this guide, we’ll show you how to hide highlights on Instagram without deleting them safe and easy!
Why Hide Highlights on Instagram?
Sometimes, you might not want everyone to see certain parts of your life. By hiding highlights, you can choose who gets to see them.
Sharing less can help keep your personal details safe from strangers or people you don’t fully trust.
Hiding highlights allows you to keep your profile looking exactly how you want. You can decide what parts of your life to show and what to keep private.
How to Hide Highlights on Instagram
Want to hide your Instagram highlights and share your content with selected people? You’ve got two cool options:
- Method #1: Head to Instagram’s Settings > Privacy > Story. Add the folks you want to hide from to the “Hide Story From” list. They can still follow you, but they won’t see your Stories or Highlights. Pretty neat, right?
- Method #2: This one’s for your “Close Friends” only. When you share a Story or add it to Highlights, only those on your Close Friends list get a peek. Perfect for sharing the good stuff with your inner circle.
Ready to keep things low-key or share the highlights with your VIPs?
Method #1
2) Choose “Settings” from the menu.
3) Now, click on “Privacy.”
4) You’ll see a list of Privacy settings categories. Select “Story.”
5) Here, you can adjust privacy settings for your stories, highlights, and live videos.
This method works like a blacklist. It’s Instagram’s way of keeping your stories, highlights, and live videos hidden from specific users. Tap the text that says “N individuals” to edit the “hide story from” list.
You’ll see a list of accounts, and you can use the search bar to find usernames. Pick the accounts you want to include in the “Hide story from” list. Accounts added to this list will have blue checkmarks. None of your highlights, stories, or live videos will be visible to these users.
Method #2
Instagram offers a cool feature where you can create your squad of “Close Friends.” Think of it as your exclusive guest list. You get to decide who gets to see your stuff.
Here’s how it works: Whenever you’re posting a new story, reel, photo, or video, just select “Close Friends.” This ensures that only those on your Close Friends list get to enjoy your content.
It’s like an invisibility cloak for your Instagram highlights, keeping them hidden from everyone else. If you want to share with the masses, you’ll have to repost it separately.
Editing your Close Friends list is a breeze. Go to the Story Privacy settings, just above the “Hide story from” option we talked about earlier. Click on “N persons” under the “Close Friends” section.
You can add friends and family by searching for their Instagram usernames.
The cool part?
They won’t get a notification when they make it onto your Close Friends list.
However, there’s a little “Close Friends” label that appears next to every story, highlight, reel, or post you share with them. It’s got a green background with a star icon, making it super easy for your chosen few to know they’re in the inner circle.
So, when you see stories with a green ring, you know it’s a Close Friends exclusive. It’s like a VIP section in your Instagram world.
How to Archive Your Highlights on Instagram
Archiving your Instagram highlights and stories is easy with these simple steps:
Step #1: Open your Instagram app and head to your profile. Click on the three lines in the top right corner.
Step #2: In the list, click on “Archive.”
Step #3: You’ll be directed to a new page. Look for the arrow at the top and click it. A menu will pop up, and you should select “Stories archive.”
Next, click on the three dots in the top right corner.
Step #4: Another menu will pop up. Now click on “Settings.”
On the new page, toggle the button “Save story to archive” to the right to activate archiving for stories and highlights.
Now you know how to archives your Instagram stories without deleting it.
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How to Hide Instagram Highlights From Someone
Instagram doesn’t have a single button that hides highlights from one specific person but you can effectively achieve the same result using three built-in privacy controls. Here’s how each method works.
Method 1: Hide Your Story From Specific People
When you hide your story from someone, they can no longer see any new stories you add to highlights going forward. Existing highlights they’ve already seen remain visible, but nothing new will reach them.
- Open Instagram and go to your Profile.
- Tap the three lines (☰) in the top right corner, then tap Settings and privacy.
- Tap Privacy → Story.
- Tap Hide story and live video from and search for the person’s name.
- Select them and tap Done.
From this point, any new story including stories you add to highlights will be invisible to that person.
Important: This method affects stories and future highlights only. If someone has already viewed a highlight, removing them from story visibility won’t erase that. For full removal, use Method 3.
Method 2: Use a Close Friends Highlight
This is the cleanest option if you want to share highlights with a select group while keeping others out.
- Create or edit a Story and post it to Close Friends only.
- When creating a highlight, add only Close Friends stories to it.
- That highlight will be visible exclusively to people on your Close Friends list shown with a green ring instead of the usual pink/purple.
Anyone not on your Close Friends list will not see the highlight at all, even if they visit your profile.
Method 3: Archive the Highlight
If you want to hide a highlight from everyone temporarily including a specific person archiving removes it from your public profile without deleting it permanently.
- Press and hold the highlight on your profile.
- Tap Edit Highlight.
- Tap the three-dot menu (⋯) and select Archive Highlight (or simply delete it and recreate it using Close Friends stories).
Your highlight moves to your archive and disappears from your profile. You can restore it at any time.
Most people looking to hide highlights from one specific person get the best result by combining Method 1 (block from new stories) with Method 3 (archive existing highlights that person has access to).
Bottom line: Instagram gives you Story Privacy for selective blocking, Close Friends for whitelist-style control, and Archive for a full temporary removal.
Does Hiding Your Story Also Hide Your Highlights?
| Action | Effect on Stories | Effect on Existing Highlights | Effect on New Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hide Story from someone | ✔ They can’t see new stories | ✖ Still visible | ✔ New additions hidden |
| Close Friends only | ✔ Only Close Friends see | ✖ Existing public highlights unchanged | ✔ New CF highlights hidden |
| Archive Highlight | N/A | ✔ Hidden from everyone | N/A |
| Delete Highlight | N/A | ✔ Hidden from everyone | N/A |
Why doesn't hiding a story hide highlights automatically?
Highlights are treated as a separate, permanent profile feature not as a live story. When you post a story and add it to a highlight, that highlight becomes part of your public profile by default. The story privacy setting only controls who sees the story while it’s live (up to 24 hours). Once the story is saved as a highlight, it follows highlight privacy rules, not story privacy rules.
This is a common point of confusion because the two feel connected and they are, when adding new content. But for anything already in a highlight, you need to manage highlight privacy separately using the methods above.
Hiding your story from someone prevents them from seeing any new content you add to highlights, but does not remove existing highlights from your profile. To hide a current highlight from someone, you need to either archive the highlight, rebuild it using Close Friends stories, or restrict their story access and delete the highlight.
FAQs -How to Hide IG Highlights
Yes, you can hide highlights on Instagram by archiving them. Follow the steps given below:
- Open the Instagram app and go to your profile.
- Tap on the highlight you want to hide.
- Tap on the three dots in the bottom right corner.
- Select “Edit Highlight.”
- Tap on “Archive.”
- Select the stories you want to hide and tap “Done.”
You can hide highlights from someone by adjusting your story settings to exclude specific followers from viewing your stories and highlights.
Yes, you can make Instagram highlights private by changing your account to private or by hiding your stories from specific users.
If you can’t see someone’s highlights, they may have hidden their stories from you or set their account to private.
Adjust your story settings to exclude the person from viewing your stories and highlights.
No, if you hide your story from someone, they will not be able to see your highlights.
Final Words!
If you’re looking to control who sees your Instagram highlights and stories, Instagram has you covered with two handy options.
First, the “Hide story from” feature acts like a blacklist, preventing specific people from viewing your highlights and stories. This way, you can maintain your privacy while still letting them follow your regular posts.
On the other hand, the “Close friends” feature creates a whitelist, ensuring that only those closest to you see your personal updates. This leaves your regular updates visible to everyone else.
So, whether you’re sharing selectively or publicly, Instagram provides the tools.
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Now, you know how to hide your Instagram highlights or make them visible – the choice is yours!
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