How to delete highlights on Instagram without losing the Story

Here is how to delete highlights on Instagram. Go to your profile, tap and hold the highlight, tap Delete Highlight, then tap Delete again (Instagram Help). The circle then leaves your profile.

Your Stories are not deleted when you do this. They stay in your Stories Archive, where only you can see them. So you can delete a highlight without deleting the Story inside it.

The steps are the same on iPhone and Android. This guide also shows how to remove one Story, how to edit highlights, how to clear many at once, and what works on a computer. At the end we cover what deleting does to your views and reach.

How to delete highlights on Instagram on iPhone and Android

Instagram Help gives one set of steps for both phones (“Edit or delete a highlight on Instagram”). You need the Instagram app and you need to be logged in.

1. Tap Profile or your profile picture in the bottom right.
2. Find the row of highlights below Edit Profile.
3. Tap and hold the highlight you want to delete.
4. Tap Delete Highlight.
5. Tap Delete again to confirm.

That is all. Instagram asks you to confirm once, and then the highlight is off your profile.

Do not swipe or tap once. A single tap opens the highlight and plays it. You have to hold your finger on the circle until the menu comes up.

Watch out: Instagram Help notes that Stories Archive and Highlights are not available for all accounts. If you see no highlight row at all, your account may not have the feature.

Which option to pick: delete, remove, edit or archive

Most people who search for this want one of five things. Pick yours before you tap anything, because only one of them is hard to undo.

What you want	What to do	What happens to the Story
The whole highlight off your profile	Tap and hold, Delete Highlight	Stays in your archive
One Story out of a highlight	More, Remove from Highlight	Stays in your archive
Many old highlights gone	Your activity, Highlights, Select	Stays in your archive
A new name or new Stories	Tap and hold, Edit Highlight	Nothing is deleted
The Story gone from everywhere	Delete it from Archived	Removed from every highlight too

Try the soft options first. Editing and removing can be reversed in a minute. Deleting a Story from your archive is the strong option, so save it for last.

Delete a highlight without deleting the Story

This is the part that worries people, so here it is plainly. A highlight is a folder. The Stories inside it live in your Stories Archive.

Instagram Help says Stories you share are saved to your Stories Archive. It also says Delete Highlight removes the Story “from Stories Highlights”. That is the row on your profile, not the archive. So the Story is still yours after the highlight is gone. You can make a new highlight from the same Stories any time (Kontentino).

It does not work the other way round. Instagram Help is clear on this. When you delete a Story from your archive, it is also removed from other places you shared it, and highlights are the example it gives.

One catch. All of this depends on the archive being on. Instagram Help says that if you turn off Stories Archive, any Story you share from then on is deleted after 24 hours. To check yours, follow these steps.

1. Go to your profile and tap Menu in the top right.
2. Below How you use Instagram, tap Your activity.
3. Tap Archived.
4. Tap Options in the top right, then tap Settings.
5. Look at the switch next to Save story to archive. Leave it on.

When you do want the Story gone everywhere

Maybe the Story itself is the problem, not the highlight. Then delete it from the archive (Instagram Help, “Delete a story from your archive”). This works in the app only, not on a computer.

1. Go to your profile and tap Menu in the top right.
2. Tap Your activity, then tap Archived.
3. Tap the Story you want to delete.
4. Tap Options in the bottom right.
5. Tap Delete story, then tap Delete again.

The Story leaves your archive and every highlight it was in.

How to remove a story from a highlight

You do not have to delete a whole highlight to get rid of one bad slide. Here is how to remove a story from a highlight and keep the rest (Instagram Help).

1. Go to your profile and tap the highlight to open it.
2. Tap through until you reach the Story you want gone.
3. Tap More in the bottom right of that Story.
4. Tap Remove from Highlight.
5. Confirm. On iPhone the button says Remove. On Android it says Remove Photo.

The highlight stays on your profile with the other Stories in it. The Story you removed stays in your archive.

How to edit highlights: name and Stories

Editing is the better choice when the highlight is fine but out of date. Instagram Help covers how to edit highlights in the same article as deleting.

1. Go to your profile.
2. Tap and hold the highlight.
3. Tap Edit Highlight.
4. Type a new name if you want one.
5. In Selected, tap a Story to take it out. In Stories, tap any Story from your archive to add it.
6. Tap Done.

You can do this as often as you like. Instagram Help says a highlight stays on your profile until you remove it, even after the original Story has disappeared.

Tip: before you delete an old highlight, open Edit Highlight and look at what is inside. You may only need to swap two or three Stories to make it current again.

How to delete multiple highlights at once

If you have years of old highlights, do not hold and delete them one by one. Instagram has a bulk screen for it (Instagram Help, “Delete multiple highlights at once”).

1. Go to your profile and tap Menu in the top right.
2. Below How you use Instagram, tap Your activity.
3. Below Content you shared, tap Highlights.
4. Tap Select in the top right.
5. Tap each highlight you want to delete.
6. Tap Delete at the bottom, then tap Delete to confirm.

Two filters on that screen help with old highlights. Tap Newest to oldest to change the sort order. Tap All dates to show only highlights from a date range you choose.

How to delete Instagram highlights on a computer

This is where other guides get vague, so we checked the computer steps in Instagram Help. The article opens by telling you to log into the app for Android or iPhone. Its computer steps cover only two jobs. One is editing a highlight. The other is deleting a Story from a highlight. There is no Delete Highlight step for computers.

To delete a Story from a highlight on a computer:

1. Go to instagram.com and click your profile picture on the left.
2. Click the highlight you want to change.
3. Click Options in the top right of the Story you want gone.
4. Click Delete, then click Delete again.

To edit on a computer, click Options on the highlight, then click Edit. Type a new name if you want one and click Next. In Selected, click a Story to take it out. Click Next, then click Done.

If you want the whole highlight gone and you only have a laptop, the phone app is the sure way. That is true on a PC, a Mac and a Chromebook, because they all use the same website.

Can you get a deleted highlight back?

Not with one tap. Instagram has no restore button for a highlight. What you can do depends on what you deleted.

• You deleted the highlight. The Stories are still in your archive if the archive was on. Make a new highlight and add them again.
• You removed one Story from a highlight. Same answer. Open Edit Highlight and add it back from Stories.
• You deleted the Story from your archive. Go to Your activity, then Recently deleted, then Stories. Tap the Story, tap Options, and tap Restore.

Instagram Help says content in Recently deleted is removed by itself after 30 days. Stories that were never in your archive get up to 24 hours. After that they are gone for good.

Do highlight views count, and does deleting hurt reach?

Start with who can see a highlight. Instagram Help says the people you allowed to see your Story can also see your highlights. If your account is public, that is everyone.

Now the numbers. Instagram Help says you can see who has seen your Story for up to 48 hours after you post it. The view number includes replays, so it can be higher than the list of names. That clock does not restart when you add the Story to a highlight (ContentStudio). Our guide to the Instagram Story views order explains the viewer list in full.

Do highlight views count toward anything else? Not that Instagram has said. Instagram Help does not list highlight views as part of your post, Reel or profile numbers. We found no official page that ties highlights to how your posts are ranked. So deleting a highlight should not change the reach of your feed posts or Reels.

What you do lose is simple. New visitors see fewer things on your profile. If a highlight answered common questions, like prices or opening hours, expect to get those questions again. Your Story numbers are a separate thing. Instagram Help says you can open insights for a Story for up to two years after it was made (“View insights on your Instagram Stories”).

For more on which view numbers other people can see, read who can see your Instagram views.

Where bought views fit, and where they do not

We sell Instagram views from $2.95 for 100 views. They go on feed videos and Reels. We do not sell Story views or highlight views, and we would not tell you to buy them anywhere.

Here is why. A Story view count is private. Only you can see it, so a bigger number there impresses nobody. Bought views also cannot bring back a highlight you deleted, and they cannot make people tap the circles on your profile.

What does help highlights is people landing on your profile in the first place. That comes from Reels and posts that travel. If a Reel is good and just needs a first push, views can give it that. If the Reel is weak, views will not fix it. If you also want to tidy what visitors see on your posts, see our guide on how to hide likes on Instagram.

A quick checklist

• To delete one highlight: tap and hold, Delete Highlight, Delete.
• To take out one Story: open it, More, Remove from Highlight.
• To clear old highlights in bulk: Your activity, Highlights, Select, Delete.
• To refresh instead of delete: tap and hold, Edit Highlight.
• Keep Save story to archive switched on, so a deleted highlight never costs you the Story.
• Only delete from Archived when you want the Story gone everywhere. You then have 30 days to change your mind.