Instagram Stories: how long they last, length, scheduling and Highlights

an Instagram story lasts 24 hours, and each clip in it can run up to 60 seconds. after that it leaves your profile and Feed, but it is not gone: it stays in your private archive, and you can keep it on your profile for good by adding it to a Highlight.

below: how long stories last, how long one can be, whether you can schedule them, and how Highlights work. sizes for every placement are in the social media specs hub. checked November 2026.

the short answer

• how long do Instagram stories last? 24 hours, unless you add them to a Highlight.
• how long is an Instagram story? up to 60 seconds a clip. a longer video is split into back-to-back clips automatically.
• can you schedule Instagram stories? not from the Instagram app's own scheduler, which covers posts and reels. you can from Meta Business Suite, with a professional account.
• size: 9:16, 1080×1920.

how long do Instagram stories last?

24 hours. Instagram's Help Centre says photos and videos shared to your story disappear from Feed, your profile and Direct after 24 hours, unless you add them as a highlight. after that they are kept in your Stories archive, which only you can see, unless you have turned the archive off.

the 24 hours is the point of the format, and it changes how stories are valued. from a post on how influencer pay works:

"Stories normally pay less because they disappear after 24 hours, while Reels can be worth more because they have a better chance of reaching people outside your audience."

that is the trade: stories mostly reach people who already follow you, and they vanish. reels can reach strangers and stay. stories earn their keep as the daily, low-effort layer — announcements, behind the scenes, links, polls — on top of posts and reels that do the reaching.

how long is an Instagram story?

each story clip can be up to 60 seconds. Instagram's 2026 Stories guide says a longer video is split automatically into back-to-back clips, so the whole thing plays. so a story does not stop at 60 seconds; it arrives in pieces, and each break is a chance for the viewer to tap past.

a photo story shows for a few seconds before it moves on. ads are different again: Meta's Ads Guide says an Instagram Stories image ad shows for 5 to 16 seconds, and a Stories video ad of 16 seconds or more may be split into up to three cards. the full ad specs are in Meta ad specs.

for reels, the limits are much longer — 20 minutes, with 3 minutes the most Instagram will recommend to new audiences. that is in how long an Instagram Reel can be.

can you schedule Instagram stories?

yes, but not everywhere.

• in the Instagram app: Instagram's Help Centre article on scheduling is titled "how to create and manage scheduled posts and Reels". it covers posts and reels, for professional accounts, up to 75 days ahead. stories are not part of it.
• in Meta Business Suite: with a professional Instagram account connected, Business Suite's Planner has a "Create story" option with a "Schedule story" step, on desktop and in the app. how far ahead it allows is not something we could confirm on a Meta page; guides give different windows, so check the date picker.
• third-party schedulers: many social media tools schedule stories through Meta's publishing tools. stickers such as polls and links may not carry over, so check before relying on them.

personal accounts cannot schedule natively. switching to a professional account (creator or business) is done in the app's settings.

Instagram story Highlights

a Highlight is a named collection of stories pinned to your profile, under the bio. a story in a Highlight stays there after its 24 hours are up, until you remove it.

• adding one: tap Highlight on a live story, or pick old stories from your archive. the archive has to be on for that.
• what to put there: the things a new visitor needs — what you sell, prices or menus, reviews, how to book, FAQs. a profile visitor sees Highlights before they see your grid.
• covers: each Highlight has a small round cover. a consistent set of covers makes the row read as navigation rather than clutter.

story size and safe zone

stories are 9:16 at 1080×1920. Meta recommends 1440×2560 for Stories ads, the same shape at a higher resolution. for ads, Meta asks you to keep the top 14%, the bottom 35% and 6% on each side free of text and logos: 269 / 672 / 65 px on a 1080×1920 frame. the diagram, and why older guides give smaller numbers, are in Instagram safe zones. feed and carousel sizes are in Instagram post size.

if you make story images in Clear Cortex, the image studio exports 9:16 directly; so does the video studio.

the summary

• stories last 24 hours, then move to your private archive.
• up to 60 seconds a clip; longer videos are split into clips.
• schedule stories in Meta Business Suite, not the Instagram app's scheduler, which is for posts and reels.
• Highlights keep stories on your profile until you remove them.
• 9:16 at 1080×1920; keep ad text out of the top 14% and bottom 35%.

every other platform's sizes are in the social media specs hub.