How to Make Your Highlights Public on Instagram

Wondering why your carefully curated Instagram Highlights aren't getting the attention you expected? The answer is often a single, simple privacy setting. If you've spent time creating the perfect Highlight covers and compiling your best Stories, only to realize nobody new can see them, you're not alone. This guide will walk you through exactly why your Highlights might be hidden and give you the step-by-step instructions to make them public for everyone to see.

Why Your Instagram Highlights Are Hiding (And What They Really Do)

Before we fix the visibility issue, let's quickly cover why Instagram Highlights are so important for creators and brands. They are one of the most valuable, and often underutilized, pieces of real estate on your entire profile.

A Quick Recap on Instagram Highlights

Simply put, Instagram Highlights are curated collections of your past Instagram Stories that live permanently on your profile, right below your bio and above your feed. Unlike regular Stories that vanish after 24 hours, Highlights stay put until you decide to remove them. This makes them the perfect place to showcase evergreen content and give visitors a quick, digestible snapshot of what your account is all about.

Think of your Instagram profile as a storefront. Your Reels and feed posts are the dynamic window display, grabbing attention with fresh content. Your Highlights, on the other hand, are the permanent, organized sections inside the store - they're your "About Us" page, your "Best Sellers" shelf, your wall of "Customer Reviews," and your "FAQ" desk all rolled into one. They serve as a powerful introduction for new followers and a handy reference for your existing community.

The One Setting That Controls Everything: Public vs. Private Accounts

Here’s the main point you need to understand: You cannot make your Highlights public if your Instagram account is set to private. There's no separate toggle switch for individual Highlights. Their visibility is completely tied to the overall privacy status of your profile.

Your entire account is either a private space for friends and family or a public platform for the world. Let’s break down what each setting means for your Highlights.

What a Private Instagram Account Really Means

When your account is set to Private:

• Only followers you have personally approved can see your content.
• New visitors who come to your page will see your profile picture, username, bio, and follower/following counts, but everything else - your feed, your Reels, and your Highlights - will be hidden from them.
• This is the number one reason why your Highlights aren't "public." If an unapproved user can't see your Stories in the first place, they definitely can’t see the Highlights you create from them.

This setting is great for personal use, but it completely defeats the purpose of using Instagram for brand building, marketing, or connecting with a wider audience.

What a Public Instagram Account Unlocks

When your account is set to Public:

• Anyone on or off Instagram can view your profile and see all of your content.
• This means your feed posts, Reels, and most importantly, your beautifully crafted Highlights are visible to every single person who lands on your page.
• This is the standard and necessary setting for any business, creator, or influencer who wants to grow their presence. A public account allows your content to be discovered through hashtags, the Explore page, and shares, driving new eyes to your profile and letting your Highlights do their job of converting visitors into followers.

How to Make Your Instagram Profile Public (Step-by-Step)

Ready to unlock your content and make your Highlights visible? Switching your account from private to public only takes a few taps. Keep in mind, if you have a Business or Creator account, your profile is already public by default, as these account types cannot be made private.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Go to Your Profile: Open the Instagram app and tap your profile picture in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
2. Open the Menu: Tap the "hamburger" menu (the three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner to open the main menu.
3. Navigate to Settings: Tap "Settings and Privacy." This is the central hub for all your account controls.
4. Find Account Privacy: Scroll down to the section titled "Who can see your content" and tap on "Account privacy."
5. Toggle Off Privacy: You'll see a single switch labeled "Private account." If it's turned on (the toggle will be blue), simply tap it to switch it off. It will turn grey.
6. Confirm the Change: Instagram will show a confirmation pop-up explaining what happens when you switch to a public account. Tap "Switch to public" to finalize the change.

That’s it! Your account is now public, and your Instagram Highlights will be visible to everyone who visits your profile.

Now You're Public: How to Optimize Your Highlights for Maximum Impact

Just making your Highlights public isn't enough. Now you need to make sure they're working for you. A well-organized set of Highlights can dramatically improve how people perceive your brand and encourage them to hit that "Follow" button.

1. Create Strategic Highlight Categories

Don't just add random Stories. Plan your Highlight categories based on what a new visitor would want to know. Think of the main pillars of your brand. Good examples include:

• About Me/Us: Introduce yourself or your team.
• FAQs: Answer your most common questions to save time.
• Products/Services: Showcase what you offer.
• Reviews/Testimonials: Let your happy customers do the talking.
• How To's/Tips: Provide immediate value with tutorials.
• BTS (Behind the Scenes): Show the human side of your brand.

2. Design Eye-Catching Custom Covers

First impressions matter. The default thumbnail Instagram pulls for a Highlight cover can look messy and off-brand. Creating simple, consistent covers makes your profile look instantly more professional and polished.

You can easily create these using tools like Canva. Just design a simple graphic or icon that represents the category and uses your brand colors. When you edit a Highlight, you can upload a custom cover directly from your camera roll.

3. Keep Them Fresh and Relevant

Highlights aren't a "set it and forget it" feature. Your audience and your business evolve, and so should your Highlights. Schedule a monthly or quarterly check-in to:

• Remove outdated content: Get rid of expired promotions, old links, or information that's no longer accurate.
• Add new wins: Just got a great new testimonial or launched a new product? Add it to the relevant Highlight.
• Assess your categories: Are your categories still relevant? Maybe it's time to archive an old one and create a new one that better reflects your current focus.

FAQs: Common Questions About Public Instagram Highlights

Still have some lingering questions? Here are answers to a few common head-scratchers.

Can I make just one Highlight public while my account stays private?

No, you cannot. A Highlight's visibility is an all-or-nothing deal tied directly to your overall account privacy settings. To make your Highlights public, your entire profile must be public.

Who can see my Highlights if my account is public?

Absolutely everyone. Anyone who can navigate to your Instagram profile can watch every Story within your Highlights, regardless of whether they follow you. This is fantastic for discoverability and converting visitors into followers.

I made my account public, but my friend still can't see my Highlights. What's wrong?

It's likely one of three things. First, ask them to completely close and reopen their Instagram app - sometimes it just needs a refresh. Second, check to make sure you haven't blocked their account by mistake. Third, and most often, you may have previously hidden your Stories from them. You can check this by going to Settings and Privacy >, Hide story and live. If their username is on that list, remove it.

Will people be able to see who else viewed my Highlights?

No. After the initial 24-hour period of the Story passes (48 hours for business/creator accounts), the viewer list disappears. You will still see the total view count on each old story in a highlight, but you will not see who the individual viewers were.

Final Thoughts

Making your Instagram Highlights public isn't about flipping a switch for one feature, but rather a strategic decision to open your profile up for growth. By switching your account to public, your Highlights transform from a hidden folder into a dynamic and powerful introduction to your brand, ready to engage every visitor who lands on your page.

Once your Highlights are live and public, keeping them filled with fresh, interesting content is the next logical step. At Postbase, we built our platform to make maintaining this consistency straightforward. Being able to plan your Stories in a visual calendar, schedule content ahead of time, and manage all your conversations in one spot means you can consistently feed your Highlights with brand-building content without the daily scramble. It's about working smarter to ensure your best content is always front and center for your audience.