To post on Instagram, open the app and tap the plus icon, then pick one of three surfaces: Post for the feed, Story for a slide that expires in 24 hours, or Reel for vertical video. Each surface has its own composer, its own size rules and its own caption behaviour, so the muscle memory from one does not carry to the next. Below are three separate procedures you can follow with the app open, a specs table for all three, and the desktop and scheduling routes for when your phone is not the right tool.
This assumes the account already exists. If it does not, start with setting up the profile itself and come back here.
How to post to the Instagram feed
A feed post is the permanent one: it takes a slot on your profile grid and stays until you archive it. Single image and carousel share a composer, so one procedure covers both.
- Open the composer. Open Instagram and tap the plus icon in the bottom navigation bar, then choose Post. On some builds the plus sits in the top right of the home screen instead.
- Pick your media. Select one photo or video from your camera roll, or tap the multi-select icon and choose up to 20 items in the order you want them to appear. The first item you pick sets the aspect ratio for every slide in a carousel.
- Set the crop. Tap the expand arrows in the bottom left to switch between the original ratio and the crops Instagram offers. Choose 4:5 portrait unless the image genuinely needs the extra width.
- Edit the image. Tap Next, then use the Filter and Edit tabs to adjust brightness, contrast, warmth and structure. In a carousel, tap an individual slide first to edit that slide on its own.
- Write the caption. Tap the caption field and write your post, putting the point inside the first 125 characters because that is all anyone sees before the caption is cut off with a more link.
- Tag, locate and describe. Add up to five relevant hashtags, tag the accounts that appear in the image, add a location, and open Advanced settings to write alt text for screen readers.
- Share the post. Tap Share. The post reaches your followers feed and your profile grid within seconds. If it stalls on Posting, check your connection rather than tapping Share a second time.
Two carousel details are easy to learn the hard way. Slide one sets the ratio for every other slide, so a square opener crops your 4:5 slide five to square too. And on most builds the order is fixed at selection time, so tap them in the sequence you want.
How to post an Instagram Story
A Story is the temporary one: full screen, 24 hours, stickers and links, and a list of exactly who watched. Your existing followers see it most and strangers see it least.
- Open the Story camera. Swipe right from your feed, or tap your profile picture with the plus badge in the top left of the home screen. Both open the Story camera.
- Capture or upload. Tap the shutter for a photo, hold it to record video, or swipe up to pull an existing file from your camera roll. Video runs 60 seconds per slide and anything longer is split into consecutive slides automatically.
- Choose a camera mode. Swipe through the mode carousel on the left if you want something other than a plain capture: Boomerang, Layout for a split screen, Live, or Create for a text-only slide.
- Add text and stickers. Use the text tool for captions and the sticker tray for polls, questions, quizzes, countdowns, music and the link sticker. You get one link sticker per slide, so a multi-slide Story is how you place more than one link.
- Check it is readable. Add the captions sticker to any slide with speech, and keep text away from the top and bottom edges where the interface, the profile row and the reply bar cover it.
- Publish and save it. Tap Your Story to publish to all followers, or Close Friends to publish to the green-ring list only. The slide disappears after 24 hours unless you add it to a Highlight from your profile.
The viewer list is the part people over-read. It is visible for 48 hours in total, 24 while the Story is live and 24 more in your archive, and after that only the count survives. It is also not a ranking of who likes you most: the order of the Story viewer list is driven by interaction signals between the two accounts, not by how long anyone watched.
How to post an Instagram Reel
A Reel is the one that reaches people who have never heard of you. It gets its own timeline, audio library and distribution, and it stays on your profile rather than expiring.
- Open the Reel composer. Tap the plus icon and choose Reel, or swipe right into the camera and select Reel from the mode carousel at the bottom.
- Record or upload clips. Hold the shutter to record in the app, up to three minutes, or tap the gallery thumbnail to bring in footage you shot elsewhere. Uploads from the camera roll can run longer than in-app recordings.
- Trim and sequence. Open the editing timeline to trim each clip and drag the clips into order. Cut the dead air at the front so the very first frame carries the hook rather than a second of setup.
- Add audio. Tap the music note to search the audio library, or keep your original sound. Original audio and voiceover usually hold attention better than a trending track laid over unrelated footage.
- Add text and captions. Put your hook on screen as text in the first frame, then turn on automatic captions from the sticker tray. Most Reels are watched with the sound off until something earns the volume.
- Choose the cover. Tap Cover and pick a frame from the video or upload a custom image. This frame is what people see on your profile grid, so check that it is legible at thumbnail size.
- Write the caption and settings. Write a caption of up to 2,200 characters, add up to five hashtags, tag any collaborators, and decide whether the Reel also goes to your main feed.
- Share it or trial it. Tap Share to publish normally, or turn on Trial Reel to show it to non-followers first and read the performance before it reaches your own audience.
Trial Reels are worth the extra tap when you are unsure. The Reel goes to people who do not follow you first, so you read it against a cold audience before deciding whether to push it to your own. Since February 2026 they can be scheduled like any other post.
Instagram sizes and limits for every surface
Upload at these numbers and Instagram compresses once. Upload at something else and it crops first, then compresses, which is where soft text and mushy edges come from.
| Surface | Upload at | Ratio | Length | Caption |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feed photo | 1080 x 1350 px | 4:5 portrait (1.91:1 to 4:5 accepted) | Not applicable | 2,200 characters, 125 shown |
| Carousel | 1080 x 1350 px, all slides the same | First slide sets the ratio for all | Up to 20 items | 2,200 characters, one caption for the set |
| Story | 1080 x 1920 px | 9:16 vertical | 60 seconds per slide, longer files auto-split | No caption field, text sits on the image |
| Reel | 1080 x 1920 px | 9:16 vertical | Up to 3 minutes recorded in app, longer from camera roll | 2,200 characters, 125 shown |
| Profile grid tile | Cropped from your upload | Roughly 3:4 | Not applicable | Not applicable |
That last row is the one most guides leave out, and it changes how you frame a shot. The grid displays at roughly 3:4 while the best feed ratio is still 4:5, so a 4:5 upload loses a sliver from each side on the grid. Nothing is destroyed, the full image opens when someone taps it, but text or a face pushed to the left or right edge vanishes on the surface new visitors judge you by. Keep the subject off the outer edges.
How to post from a desktop computer
You do not need a phone for feed posts. Go to instagram.com, click Create in the left sidebar, drag your files in, crop, run the basic adjustments, write a caption and alt text, and click Share. It handles photos, video, carousels and Reels.
What the website will not do:
- Stories. No Story composer on the web. Meta Business Suite publishes them from a browser, and so do most scheduling tools.
- The audio library. Trending audio, AR effects and face filters are mobile only. A Reel uploaded from desktop keeps whatever sound is baked into the file.
- Interactive stickers. Polls, questions, quizzes, countdowns and sliders are mobile only.
- Recording. No camera capture in the browser. Everything has to be a finished file.
So desktop is excellent for anything you edited properly elsewhere and useless for anything you improvise. Carousels and finished Reels from the computer, Stories from the phone.
How to schedule Instagram posts
Two routes, and they answer different problems.
| Instagram app and Meta Business Suite | A dedicated tool | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Included with the account | A subscription |
| Covers | Posts, carousels and Reels in app; Stories too from Business Suite | All surfaces, usually alongside your other platforms |
| Limits | 25 scheduled items per day, 75 days ahead | Varies, generally higher |
| What it does not do | Write anything, or plan what comes next | Depends entirely on the tool |
To schedule inside the app, build the post as normal, then on the final screen open Advanced settings and turn on Schedule this post. Public accounts have this; private personal accounts do not. Meta Business Suite does the same job from a browser and adds Stories, with the same 25 per day and 75 day ceilings.
Be clear about what scheduling solves. It removes the need to be holding your phone at 6pm. It does not remove the need to have decided what to post, written it, sized it and adapted it for three surfaces. That work is the job, and it is still on your desk on Sunday night.
The mistakes that quietly cost reach
None of these break a post. They just cap it, which is worse, because nothing tells you it happened.
On feed posts
Burying the point past character 125 is the common one. The caption preview is your headline, so context before payoff puts the payoff behind a tap most people never make. Second: uploading square out of habit. Square takes less vertical space on a phone, so it earns less attention per scroll than 4:5 for no benefit. Third: treating five hashtags like the old thirty. Five is an enforced cap that belongs to the post, not to the caption field, so parking the extras in the first comment buys nothing. They are a topic label, not a distribution lever, so five accurate ones beat five popular ones. For sets organised by niche, hashtag ideas grouped by category will save you the guessing.
On Stories
Posting a Story with nothing to tap. Replies, poll votes, sticker taps and DMs are what keep you near the front of someone else’s Story tray, and a static image with a caption generates none of them. Also: text in the top and bottom margins, where the profile row and reply bar sit. And fifteen slides in one burst, which trains people to tap through you.
On Reels
A watermark from another app is the expensive one. Recycled content with a competitor logo baked in gets pushed down, and the fix costs nothing: export clean, add text inside Instagram. Second is a slow start. Watch time is the heaviest signal here, and a Reel that opens with two seconds of walking toward the camera has already lost half its audience. Cut the ramp. Third is muting yourself: no on-screen text and no captions, on a surface most people scroll with the sound off.
Frequently asked questions
How do you post on Instagram from your phone?
Tap the plus icon in the bottom navigation and choose Post, Story or Reel. Pick your media, set the crop, edit it, write a caption, then tap Share. The three surfaces diverge after that first tap: feed posts get a caption field and a slot on your profile grid, Stories get stickers and expire after 24 hours, and Reels get an editing timeline and an audio library.
What size should an Instagram post be in 2026?
Upload feed photos at 1080 by 1350 pixels, which is a 4:5 portrait ratio. Stories and Reels are 1080 by 1920 pixels, a 9:16 vertical ratio. Your profile grid now displays tiles at roughly 3:4, so a 4:5 upload loses about 33 pixels from each side in the grid view while the full image still opens intact when someone taps it.
How long can an Instagram Reel be?
You can record up to three minutes inside the Instagram camera. Uploads from your camera roll can run longer, though the exact ceiling varies by account and by rollout, so check what your own app allows before you edit to length. Watch time is the signal that matters, and it is easier to hold well under a minute than at the maximum.
How many hashtags can you use on Instagram?
Five. Instagram cut the limit from 30 to 5 in December 2025, and posts that go over it are not surfaced in Explore, on hashtag pages, or in Reels recommendations. Hashtags now work as a topic label that helps Instagram classify what you posted, not as a reach lever. Choose five that describe the post accurately and put your keywords in the caption.
Can you post to Instagram from a computer?
Yes, for feed posts, carousels and Reels. Go to instagram.com, click Create, upload your file, crop it, write a caption and share. What the website cannot do is Stories, in-app recording, the audio library, AR effects and interactive stickers. For Stories from a desktop you need Meta Business Suite or a scheduling tool that supports them.
Does Instagram have a built-in scheduler?
Yes. Public accounts can schedule posts, carousels and Reels from inside the app, and Meta Business Suite does the same from a browser while also handling Stories. Both cap you at 25 scheduled items per day and 75 days ahead. Neither one writes the post, adapts it per surface, or decides what to publish next, which is the part that takes the time.