How to Collage Photos on Instagram Story

Putting multiple photos into a single Instagram Story is one of the most effective ways to tell a more compelling visual story, show off a product line, or share a fun recap. This guide will walk you through four different ways to create stunning photo collages for your Stories, from the super-easy built-in tools to more advanced techniques that give you total creative control.

Method 1: The Go-To "Add Sticker" Method

This is the most straightforward and popular way to create a photo collage directly within the Instagram app. It’s perfect for adding a few extra images on the fly without needing any other tools. If you've been wondering how people add smaller photos on top of their main Story background, this is typically how they do it.

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Open Instagram Stories: Swipe right from your home feed or tap the plus icon (+) and select "Story."
2. Set Your Background: Start by choosing the foundation for your collage. You can either take a new photo, upload an existing one from your camera roll, or pick a solid color background. To get a solid color, open the "Create" mode (the "Aa" icon) and tap the color circle in the bottom corner to cycle through different background colors and gradients.
3. Open the Sticker Tray: Once your background is ready, tap the sticker icon at the top of the screen (it looks like a smiling square). This is where you find polls, questions, GIFs, and other interactive elements.
4. Find the "Photo" Sticker: Scroll down through the sticker options until you see an icon showing a small mountain inside a circle, often with another version next to it showing a stack of your recent photos. Tap this "Photo" sticker.
5. Select Your First Collage Photo: Your phone’s camera roll will open. Choose the first picture you want to add to your collage. It will appear right in the middle of your Story.
6. Resize, Rotate, and Position: Now you can edit your newly added photo. Use two fingers to pinch and zoom to make it smaller or larger. Rotate it by twisting with two fingers. Drag it anywhere you want on the screen.
7. Rinse and Repeat: This is the important part. To add more photos, just go back to the sticker tray (Step 3), tap the Photo sticker again, and select your next image. You can add several photos to a single Story using this method. Common professional knowledge suggests capping it around 4-5 images to avoid a cluttered look, though there’s no official limit.
8. Tap for New Shapes: Want to break out of the standard square? Each time you add a photo sticker, you can tap it to cycle through different shapes like circles, stars, and hearts. This simple trick can make your collage feel much more dynamic and creative.

The sticker method is quick, easy, and built right into the app. It’s perfect for casual, in-the-moment collages where speed is a priority.

Method 2: The Copy and Paste "Hack"

If the sticker method feels a bit too rigid, this copy-and-paste technique offers more freedom and is surprisingly simple once you know it exists. It lets you bring photos into your Story canvas from your phone’s photo album without relying on the sticker tray at all. It works a little differently on iOS versus Android, but the result is the same.

For iOS (iPhone) Users:

1. Start Your Story: First, open Instagram Stories and set your background, just like in the previous method.
2. Hop Over to Your Photos App: Without closing Instagram, switch over to your iPhone’s native Photos app. Find the picture you want to add to your collage.
3. Copy the Photo: Tap the "Share" icon (the square with an arrow pointing up) in the bottom-left corner of the Photos app. In the share menu, scroll down and select "Copy Photo."
4. Head Back to Instagram: Switch back to the Instagram app. As soon as you open it, a small pop-up should appear in the bottom-left that says "Add sticker" with a preview of the photo you just copied. Tap it, and your photo will be added to your Story canvas, ready to be resized and positioned.
5. What If It Doesn’t Pop Up? If the "Add sticker" pop-up doesn't appear, don't worry. Simply open the text tool (the "Aa" icon) in your Story, tap and hold on the screen until the "Paste" option appears, and tap "Paste." Your photo will be added this way instead.

For Android Users:

The core concept is similar for Android, but since the native clipboard works differently, you usually need an app that supports copying images. Gboard (the Google Keyboard) is the perfect tool for this and most Android phones have it installed by default.

1. Prepare Your Story: Open Instagram Stories and set your background.
2. Open the Text Tool: Tap the "Aa" icon to bring up your keyboard. If you're using Gboard, you should see a toolbar above the letters.
3. Access Your Clipboard/Sticker Tray: Look for a sticker icon or clipboard icon in the Gboard toolbar. Tap on it.
4. Add Your Photo: From here, you can often find a "gallery" or "photo" icon. This will allow you to browse your camera roll and select a photo to insert directly onto the keyboard's clipboard. Select the photo, and it will be pasted into your Story.

The copy-paste method is a fan-favorite among power users because it bypasses the Instagram sticker menu entirely, making it feel faster and more seamless once you get the hang of it.

Method 3: Using the Built-In "Layout" Feature

If you're looking for a clean, grid-style collage, Instagram has a dedicated tool for that called "Layout" mode. Instead of freely placing images on a background, this mode puts your photos into a symmetrical grid, great for "before and after" shots, comparing different items, or showing a sequence of events.

How to Use Layout Mode:

1. Find Layout Mode: Open the Instagram Stories camera. On the left-hand side toolbar you'll see a series of icons. One of them is a grid icon labelled "Layout." Tap it.
2. Choose Your Grid Style: Once in Layout mode, another button appears called "Change Grid." Tap this to cycle through different grid configurations - you can create collages with two, three, four, or even six photos in various arrangements.
3. Fill the Grid: After picking your grid, you can start filling it with photos. Tap on any quadrant of the grid to either take a live photo or select an existing one from your camera roll. Your phone gallery icon will appear in the bottom-left corner to make this easier.
4. Complete Your Collage: Continue adding photos until you’ve filled all the spaces in your chosen grid. Once you’re done, tap the checkmark button at the bottom. The grid-based collage is now your ready-to-post Story, which you can further customize with text, Emojis, or music like any other.

Layout is the best option when you want a structured, organized aesthetic. It lacks the freeform creativity of the sticker or copy-paste methods but excels at creating polished, symmetrical designs quickly.

Method 4: Supercharge Your Collages with Third-Party Apps

For brands, content creators, or anyone wanting to create truly unique and professional-looking collages, turning to a third-party design app is the way to go. These tools give you complete control over backgrounds, text, layouts, animations, and branding elements.

Top Apps for Creating Story Collages:

• Canva: Probably the most user-friendly and feature-rich graphic design tool out there. It has thousands of pre-made, professionally designed Instagram Story templates specifically for collages. You can easily add your own photos, customize colors and fonts to match your brand, and even add animations.
• Unfold: Known for its minimalist, elegant, and film-inspired templates. Unfold is perfect for creating narrative-driven collages that feel like a high-end magazine spread.
• Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark): A powerful tool from Adobe that makes professional design accessible to everyone. It has a huge library of templates and assets, and it syncs nicely with other Adobe products if you're already in their ecosystem.

Mini-Tutorial: Making a Collage in Canva

1. Search for a Template: Open the Canva app or website and search for "Instagram Story Collage." You'll be presented with thousands of results. Filter them by style, color, or theme to find one that fits your aesthetic.
2. Upload and Drag-and-Drop: Find a template with photo placeholders (called frames). Go to the "Uploads" tab to add your photos from your computer or phone, then simply drag and drop them into the frames. Canva automatically crops and positions them for you.
3. Customize Everything: This is where apps like Canva really shine. You can click on any element to change it. Modify the background color, replace the default text with your own message, change the fonts to match your brand, and add graphic elements like lines, shapes, or icons from Canva’s library.
4. Export and Post: When your design is perfect, click the "Share" or "Download" button and save it as a high-quality "PNG" or "JPG" file. The finished image will save directly to your phone’s camera roll, ready to be uploaded as a single, beautifully polished Instagram Story.

Using a dedicated app takes a little more time upfront, but the results look far more professional and are essential for any brand aiming to maintain a consistent visual identity on social media.

Final Thoughts

Creating beautiful photo collages for your Instagram Stories is a fantastic way to increase engagement and share richer content. Whether you're using the simple photo sticker, the handy copy-paste trick, the structured Layout mode, or a powerful design app, you now have a full toolkit to make your Stories stand out.

Once you’ve mastered designing your Stories, the next step is consistently showing up. To streamline our posting and planning, we use Postbase to see our entire content strategy in one visual calendar. This lets us plan Instagram Stories, Reels, and TikToks weeks ahead, so we spend more time creating great content and less time worrying about what to post next.