How to Post More Than One Picture on an Instagram Story

Tired of posting just one static picture at a time? You can easily combine multiple photos into one dynamic and engaging Instagram Story, opening up a world of creative possibilities beyond single-image posts. This guide breaks down four different methods, from simple built-in features to advanced design tricks, helping you create stunning visual narratives that stop the scroll.

Choose Your Method: 4 Ways to Add Multiple Photos

There isn’t just one way to create a multi-picture Story. Depending on the style you’re going for - a scattered collage, a clean grid, or a professionally designed layout - you can pick the method that works best for you. We’ll cover using the simple Photo Sticker, the structured Layout mode, a clever copy-and-paste trick, and dedicated design apps for ultimate creative freedom.

The Easiest Method: Using the Photo Sticker

If you're looking for the quickest and most flexible way to add pictures to your Story, the Photo Sticker is your best friend. It allows you to layer images on top of any background - whether it's another photo, a video, or just a solid color. This gives your Story a scrapbook-like, organic feel that’s perfect for casual updates, behind-the-scenes content, or mini-mood boards.

How To Use the Photo Sticker

The process is incredibly straightforward and gives you a lot of freedom to resize, rotate, and place your images exactly where you want them.

• Step 1: Set Your Background. Open the Instagram app and swipe right or tap the plus icon to create a new Story. Start by setting your foundation. You can select an existing photo or video from your gallery to serve as the background, take a new one, or tap "Create" mode (Aa) to choose a solid color background.
• Step 2: Open the Sticker Tray. Once your background is ready, tap the sticker icon (the square smiley face) at the top of the screen. This is where you find GIFs, polls, quizzes, and other interactive elements.
• Step 3: Find the Photo Sticker. Scroll down through the sticker options until you see an icon showing a preview of your photo gallery, often with a little mountain and sun symbol. If you've used it recently, it might appear near the top. Tapping this will open your camera roll.
• Step 4: Select and Place Your First Photo. Choose the first image you want to add. It will appear on your Story as a sticker. Now, the creative part begins. Use two fingers to pinch and zoom, resizing the photo to be larger or smaller. Twist your fingers to rotate it. Drag it anywhere on the screen.
• Step 5: Repeat for More Photos. To add another picture, simply tap the sticker icon again, select the Photo Sticker, and choose your next image. You can repeat this process as many times as you like, layering photos on top of one another to build your collage.

Pro-Tips for the Sticker Method

• Change the Shape: Want to break out of the default square with rounded corners? Just tap on the photo sticker once it’s on your screen. This will cycle it through different shapes like circles, stars, and rectangles. Keep tapping until you find a shape you like.
• Create a Reveal Effect: Place one photo sticker fully covering another. In your next Story slide, move the top photo slightly to reveal what's underneath. This creates a simple but effective ‘tap for more’ sequence.
• Use a Video Background: Layering photo stickers over a video clip can create a really dynamic and interesting visual. Choose a subtle, looping video as your background and arrange your static images on top.

For a Perfect Grid: Instagram’s Built-in Layout Mode

Sometimes you want a cleaner, more organized look than the freeform sticker method can provide. That's where Instagram's Layout mode comes in. This feature lets you create perfectly aligned photo grids directly within the Story editor, ideal for comparing products, showcasing a before-and-after, or presenting a series of related images in a neat and tidy format.

How to Use Layout Mode

Creating a collage with Layout mode takes just a few taps and gives you a polished result every time.

• Step 1: Open the Layout Tool. In the Story creation screen, look at the vertical toolbar on the left side. Tap the icon that looks like a grid - this is the Layout button.
• Step 2: Choose Your Grid Style. Once you're in Layout mode, you'll see a small grid icon appear above the shutter button. Tap "Change Grid" to cycle through different layout options. You can pick a two-image split, a three-photo vertical stack, a classic four-square grid, and more.
• Step 3: Add Your Photos. With your chosen grid on the screen, you can start filling it in. Simply tap on any quadrant of the grid to add an image. You have two options: tap the gallery icon in the bottom-left corner to choose a photo from your camera roll, or tap the white circle shutter button to take a new picture for that specific spot.
• Step 4: Fill the Grid. Continue adding pictures until all the sections of your grid are filled. If you make a mistake, you can tap on a quadrant, select the photo, and tap the trash can icon to remove it and start over.
• Step 5: Finalize and Edit. Once your grid is complete, tap the checkmark button at the bottom. This will convert your layout into a single, cohesive image in the Story editor. From here, you can add text, draw, overlay GIFs, or add interactive stickers just like you would with any other Story.

The Hidden Trick: The Copy and Paste Method (iOS)

For iOS users, there's another slick method that feels a bit like a hidden feature. By using your iPhone’s copy-and-paste function, you can add photos from your camera roll directly into the Story editor without touching the sticker tray. This can sometimes feel quicker if you already have your Photos app open.

Using Copy and Paste on iOS

1. Find Your Photo: Open your iPhone’s Photos app and navigate to the picture you want to add to your Story.
2. Copy the Photo: Tap the "Share" icon (the square with an arrow pointing up) in the bottom-left corner. In the share sheet menu, scroll down and select "Copy Photo."
3. Paste into Instagram: Immediately switch back to the Instagram app, where your Story draft should still be open. Upon returning, a small pop-up should appear in the bottom-left corner with a preview of the copied image and an "Add Sticker" button. Tap it, and your photo will be added as a sticker.
4. If a Pop-Up Doesn't Appear: Sometimes the automatic pop-up doesn't show up. If that happens, just tap the "Aa" text tool, then tap and hold on the screen until the "Paste" option appears. Tap it, and the image will be added.

While this method is clever, it can occasionally be less reliable than the official sticker method depending on your iOS version. But when it works, it’s a fantastically quick shortcut.

For Maximum Creativity: Designing with Third-Party Apps

If you want to take your Story aesthetics to the next level with customized layouts, branded fonts, and beautiful templates, using a third-party design app is the way to go. Apps like Canva, Unfold, Mojo, and Adobe Express are purpose-built for creating polished social media content. They give you far more control than Instagram’s native tools allow.

The General Workflow for Design Apps

While each app is slightly different, the basic process for creating a multi-photo Story is nearly the same across all of them.

• Step 1: Choose a Template. Open your design app of choice and select a template specifically sized for Instagram Stories (a 9:16 aspect ratio). Most apps have a library filled with hundreds of pre-designed layouts featuring placeholders for multiple pictures. Find one that matches your brand vibe.
• Step 2: Customize Your Design. Add your own photos to the template placeholders. From there, you can customize everything: change background colors, adjust fonts to match your brand guidelines, add graphic elements, or even insert animated text. This is your chance to create a Story that is completely unique.
• Step 3: Save to Your Camera Roll. Once you are happy with your creation, export the final design and save it as a high-resolution image or video to your phone's camera roll. Your entire collage is now treated as one single piece of media.
• Step 4: Upload to Your Instagram Story. Open Instagram, start a new Story, and simply upload the finished image you just saved. You can still add interactive Instagram stickers like polls or question boxes on top of your designed graphic before publishing.

This approach requires an extra step, but the payoff is a professional, branded look that makes your content stand out and feel intentional.

Why More Than One Photo Matters for Your Strategy

Knowing how to add multiple pictures is only half the battle. Understanding why it’s an effective strategy can transform your content. For a brand, influencer, or small business, it's about communicating more information in a single, digestible frame.

• Telling a richer story: Show a step-by-step process, a before-and-after transformation, or highlights from an event all at once.
• Showcasing product variations: Display a product in multiple colors, from different angles, or in various use cases side-by-side.
• Driving engagement: Group user-generated content into a collage to celebrate your community, or create a 'this or that' graphic by placing two options next to each other and adding a poll sticker.
• Creating a vibe: Use multiple photos to build an aesthetic mood board that captures the feeling of your brand, a new collection, or an upcoming campaign.

Final Thoughts

Mastering the ability to add multiple photos to an Instagram Story unlocks a powerful new way to connect with your audience. Whether you’re quickly layering images with the sticker tool for a daily update or crafting a fully branded collage in another app, these methods help you create more context-rich and visually compelling content that holds viewer attention.

Once you’ve perfected your multi-photo Story creations, planning them out becomes the next step in building a consistent content strategy. At Postbase, we built our visual content calendar specifically for modern social media, thinking about formats like Reels and Stories first. It allows you to drag-and-drop your ideas, plan campaigns in advance, and see exactly what's going live anywhere, anytime, so you can focus more on creating and less on managing the chaos.