How to Make a Grid on Instagram Story

Creating a photo grid on your Instagram Story is a fantastic way to share multiple moments at once, tell a visual story, or showcase products without overwhelming your followers. This guide will walk you through several easy methods to make beautiful grids, from Instagram’s built-in tools to more advanced techniques that give you complete creative control.

Why Bother with Grids in Your Instagram Stories?

Before jumping into the "how," it helps to understand the "why." A well-designed grid does more than just display a few pictures, it elevates your content. Grids allow you to bundle related images into a single, cohesive Story slide, making your narrative clearer and more engaging. Think of it as a mini photo album or a mood board.

Here’s what makes them so effective:

• Better Storytelling: You can show a sequence of events, a before-and-after, or different angles of a product in one organized view. This is perfect for recapping an event, sharing a recipe step-by-step, or giving a behind-the-scenes look.
• Enhanced Visual Appeal: Grids look clean, professional, and intentional. They break the monotony of single-photo slides and catch your audience's eye, encouraging them to pause and look closer.
• Increased Efficiency: Instead of posting ten separate Stories about your weekend trip, you can group the highlights into two or three beautifully crafted grids. This respects your followers' time and prevents "tap-fatigue."

Method 1: The Fast and Easy Way with Instagram's "Layout" Feature

If you're looking for the quickest, most direct way to create a grid, Instagram has a built-in feature just for you. The "Layout" tool is perfect for simple collages without needing any other apps or complicated workarounds.

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Open the Story Camera: Swipe right from your Instagram feed to open the Story creation screen.
2. Find the "Layout" Icon: On the left side of your screen, you'll see a vertical toolbar with various creative options. Tap the icon that looks like a grid - this is the Layout tool.
3. Choose Your Grid Style: Once you tap the Layout icon, you’ll see an option to "Change grid." Tap this to cycle through the different available layouts. You can choose from grids with two, three, four, or six photo slots.
4. Add Your Photos: Now you can fill the grid. You have two options:
   • From your Camera Roll: Tap the small square icon in the bottom-left corner to open your photo gallery. Select a picture, and it will automatically populate the first section of the grid. Continue selecting photos until the grid is full.
   • Take Photos Live: Tap the white shutter button in the center to take a new photo for each segment of the grid.
5. Edit and Share: Once your grid is complete, you can add text, stickers, or music just like any other Story. When you're happy with it, share it with your followers!

Best for: Quick, on-the-fly collages when you don’t need much customization. It’s perfect for simple photo dumps or comparing two images side-by-side.

Method 2: Full Creative Freedom with the "Copy & Paste" Sticker Hack

If the built-in Layout feature feels too restrictive, the "copy and paste" method is your next best friend. This technique turns your camera roll photos into stickers that you can layer and arrange however you like on your Story canvas. It offers endless creative possibilities and works slightly differently on iPhone and Android.

For iPhone Users:

The process is incredibly smooth on iOS devices thanks to the native copy-paste functionality.

1. Set Your Background: Start by creating a background for your Story. You can snap a random photo, choose an image from your gallery, or use the "Create" mode (Aa icon) to make a solid-colored or gradient background.
2. Copy Your First Photo: Exit the Instagram app and open your Photos app. Find the first image you want in your grid, tap the "Share" icon in the bottom-left corner, and then select "Copy Photo."
3. Paste it in Your Story: Head back to the Instagram app. As soon as you open your Story draft, a small pop-up should appear in the bottom-left corner saying "Add sticker" with a preview of your copied photo. Tap it, and the image will appear on your screen.
4. Resize and Position: You can now drag, pinch, and rotate the photo sticker anywhere you want on the screen. Tapping an image sticker can also change its shape (like giving it rounded corners).
5. Repeat the Process: Go back to your Photos app, copy the next image, return to Instagram, paste it as a sticker, and position it. Repeat this for as many photos as you want to include in your grid.

For Android Users:

While Android doesn't have a direct "Copy Photo" feature, you can achieve the same result using a specific keyboard, like Google’s Gboard or Microsoft's SwiftKey.

1. Install Gboard (if you don't have it): Gboard is available for free on the Google Play Store. Once installed, make it your default keyboard.
2. Set Your Story Background: Just like with the iPhone method, create your background first in the Instagram Story editor.
3. Use the Keyboard Sticker Feature: Tap the text tool ("Aa") to bring up your keyboard. On Gboard, tap the sticker icon next to the GIF button. Then, tap the pin or image icon (it looks like a photo with a folded corner). This will show you recent images from your device’s gallery.
4. Select and Position Your Photo: Tap the image you want to add, and it will appear on your Story as a sticker. You can now resize and arrange it.
5. Repeat for More Photos: Bring up the text tool again and repeat the process to add more photos from your keyboard, building out your custom grid piece-by-piece.

Best for: People who want complete control over the size, placement, and layering of photos. It’s ideal for 'scrapbook' style Stories, detailed tutorials, and branded collages with custom backgrounds.

Method 3: Professional Polish with Third-Party Apps

For pixel-perfect grids, branded templates, and a professionally designed look, turning to a third-party app is the way to go. These apps are designed specifically for creating stunning visual content and offer far more templates and customization options than Instagram’s native tools.

Top Apps for Creating Story Grids:

1. Canva

Canva is a design powerhouse that makes creating beautiful Stories incredibly easy. It's packed with thousands of ready-made Instagram Story templates, many of which feature grids and collage layouts.

How to use it:

• Open Canva and search for "Instagram Story" in the template library.
• Browse the templates and find a grid layout you like.
• Tap the placeholder images to replace them with your own photos from your camera roll.
• Customize the template by changing background colors, adding your brand fonts, or including graphic elements.
• Once you're finished, save the design to your phone and upload the finished image or video directly to your Instagram Story.

2. Unfold

Unfold is beloved by creators for its minimalist, elegant, and film-inspired templates. If you’re aiming for a clean and sophisticated aesthetic, this is the app for you. It offers beautifully designed layouts that make your content look like pages from a high-end magazine.

How to use it:

• Open Unfold and start a new project.
• Choose from one of its collections, like "Clasico," "Film," or "Journal."
• Select a template that includes a grid layout.
• Tap the empty frames and add your photos or videos.
• You can add text with a variety of stylish fonts.
• Export the finalized page and upload it to your Story.

3. Picsart

Picsart is more than just a collage maker, it's a full-featured photo and video editor. Its "Grids" tool is powerful and lets you choose from hundreds of preset layouts. It's perfect for quickly arranging a batch of photos into a neat collage that you can further customize with effects, stickers, and drawings.

How to use it:

• In Picsart, tap the "+" button and scroll down to "Collages," then select "Grids."
• Choose all the photos you want to include in your grid.
• Picsart will automatically generate several layout options. Pick the one you like best.
• You can adjust the border thickness, corners, and background color.
• Save the final image to your device and share it on your Instagram Story.

Best for: Anyone creating content for a brand, an influencer looking to maintain a specific aesthetic, or anyone who wants a polished result without the manual effort of aligning photos by hand.

Final Thoughts

Whether you're using Instagram’s simple Layout tool for a quick share, the copy-paste hack for a creative collage, or an app like Canva for a professional look, you have all the tools you need to create compelling grids for your Stories. Mastering these will elevate your content, help you tell better stories, and keep your audience engaged.

Consistently creating standout designs is so much easier when you can plan your content visually. At Postbase, we built our platform around a beautiful visual calendar, because we know that a great social media strategy is about more than just scheduling, it's about seeing the bigger picture. Our drag-and-drop calendar lets you map out your Stories, Reels, and feed posts weeks in advance, making it simple to keep your aesthetic consistent and your content calendar full.