• →First, open Instagram and tap the “+” button at the TOP of the screen (or tap “Your story” at the top of your feed) to start a new Story.
• →Start by choosing a photo or video from your camera roll.
• →You can also take one right inside Instagram — tap the big round button at the bottom (tap for a photo, hold for a video).
• →The little square in the bottom-left opens your camera roll.

• →Tap Aa (top-right) to add text.
• →Pick different fonts from the pill at the top.
• →Change the color using the dots.
• →Make the words bigger or smaller by pinching with two fingers.
• →Use your fingers to drag the words anywhere on the screen.

First, tap the little face/sticker button at the top of the screen (shown at the top here) — that’s the button that opens the sticker drawer, where everything in this step lives. The drawer looks overwhelming, but you really only need THREE things on it: LINK, MUSIC, and the emoji/picture stickers. Here’s what each one is for.

• →LINK — the one you’ll use the most. It puts a tappable button on your Story that sends people to your website, quiz, or product. Look for the chain-link icon in the sticker drawer.
• →MUSIC — adds a background song to your Story (we cover this in the music step below).
• →Emoji & picture stickers — the fun stickers at the bottom of the drawer (times, hearts, words, little characters). Tap any one to stick a picture or emoji onto your Story.
• →That’s really it — you can ignore the rest (location, mentions, polls, countdowns, etc.). They’re nice extras, but these three are all you need to get posting.

Adding music is easy — and there’s a neat trick: when an audio is trending, Instagram shows your Story to more people. Here’s how to find those trending tracks.

• →Tap the sticker button (the smiley face), then choose MUSIC.
• →In the music tray, tap the “Trending” tab at the top.
• →Look for a green up-arrow (↑) next to a track — the green arrow means that audio is trending right now.
• →Trending audio = Instagram pushes your Story to more people. Pick a trending track whenever you can.
• →Once it’s posted, your track and artist appear in the top-left of your Story.

Here’s the color menu you’ll see while editing text — and how to move your words around.

• →While editing text, tap the color wheel icon (bottom of the screen) to open the color menu.
• →Tap any colored dot to instantly switch your font color.
• →Tap the eyedropper circle (far left) to grab a custom color straight from your photo.
• →For a precise shade, drag the three sliders — Hue (top, the rainbow), Saturation (middle), Brightness (bottom).
• →To move the text, press and hold it — use the little drag bar on its left to lift and place it anywhere.
• →To resize it, pinch the text with two fingers.

When you’re editing text, this little menu sits above the keyboard. Here’s what every single button does, left to right.

• →1 · Keyboard — shows or hides the keyboard so you can type and edit your words.
• →2 · Aa (Font) — switches between Instagram’s different font styles (classic, modern, neon, typewriter, etc.).
• →3 · Color wheel — opens the color menu to change your text color (tap a dot, use the eyedropper, or the sliders).
• →4 · ||A (Highlight) — drops a colored bar behind your words so they stand out against the background.
• →5 · A with the dotted circle (Animate) — adds an entrance effect so your text fades, types, bounces, or pops in.
• →6 · A in a square (Background) — cycles through solid color blocks or see-through backgrounds behind your text.
• →7 · Alignment (the lines) — switches your text between left, center, and right-aligned.

When you’re editing a Story, these six buttons float on the right side of the screen. Here’s what each one does, top to bottom.

• →1 · Aa (Text) — adds written words to your Story. Tap it, type, then drag the words where you want them.
• →2 · Smiley / Sticker — opens the sticker tray (links, polls, GIFs, mentions, location, and more). This is the one you’ll use the most.
• →3 · 🎵 Music — searches for a song and adds it as background music on your Story.
• →4 · @ person with a check (Mention) — tags another Instagram user so they get notified you tagged them.
• →5 · 🔊 Speaker (Audio) — controls the sound on your clip: turn the original audio up, down, or off.
• →6 · ▾ (More) — opens the extra tools you can’t see, like the drawing/pen tool and other options.

• →Move everything around until it looks good.
• →Don’t overthink it — Stories are supposed to feel personal and real, not perfect.
• →Then tap “Your Story” (bottom-right) to publish it.