Deleting your Instagram Story
As with most things on the app, deleting an Instagram Story is straightforward. Your Story will be permanently deleted in a couple of taps. That’s something to keep in mind when doing this. There is no draft mode, and you cannot unpublish anything. You can only delete it, so once you do that, it’s gone. However, you still have a copy of it in the Story Archive if you need it. If that’s okay with you, here’s how you can get started.
- In the app, open your Story.
2. Click on the three-dot menu icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
3. Choose Delete, then select it again.
Instagram will now remove your live story. Someone who had the file open at the time will not have it deleted. The Story will no longer be viewable in the app when they close it or move on.
Delete an Instagram Story from your archive
It’s also possible to delete an Instagram Story from your archive if you’re cleaning the house or removing evidence. Your Story Archive includes a copy of all the Stories you post. If you are cleaning the house or removing evidence, as well as deleting your Story from living, you must also remove it from your Story Archive.
Here’s how:
- You can access your Instagram profile in the lower right corner of the app.
2. On your profile, tap the triple-lined menu icon and then click the timer icon.
3. You can remove a Story by selecting it.
4. From the bottom right, select the three-dot menu icon.
5. To confirm, select Delete and then Delete again.
Unlike deleting a Story from live and leaving a copy here, deleting a Story from your Story Archive permanently deletes it. Instagram will remove all copies of the Story.
Delete an Instagram Story from Highlights
Instagram Highlights are a way to keep a Story around for longer than 24 hours. From your profile, you can access a permanent list of Stories. There are other places where you need to delete Stories if you have to clean up. As well as live and your Story Archive, if you saved it as a Highlight, you may also have to delete it from there.
- Long-press the Story you want to delete
2. Then, select Delete Highlights.
You can also select Highlight and use the three-dot menu icon to access the delete command as described above.
Delete an Instagram post or video
As we’re in a cleaning mood, I might as well show you how to delete a post or a video just in case you don’t know. Similar to Stories, it is also very easy to use.
- Choose the post or video you want to delete.
2. Choose the three-dot menu icon.
3. To confirm the deletion, select Delete and Delete again.
Posts have an unpublish option that Stories do not, so if that seems too drastic, there is an unpublish option for posts. When you archive an Instagram post, it will be removed from live view so nobody can see it, but it will remain in your app so you can access it whenever you need to. We could use that feature for Stories since it’s a private archive that isn’t accessible to the public. Archived posts are private and cannot be viewed by other users or friends.
Here’s how to archive a post:
- Choose the post you want to archive.
2. Click the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner.
3. Select Archive
You can view your archived postings by clicking the clock icon on the top right of your Instagram profile. Using this link will take you directly to your archive, where you can see any stories or images you have added.
