Instagram highlight icons or covers are images that fit perfectly into the little circles called story highlights on your Instagram profile. When you post an Instagram story there is an option at the bottom to save it to a highlight. By default, one of the photos in the highlight will become the cover.
However, if you want to have a curated aesthetic on your Instagram profile you’ll want to use a set of highlight icons.
You may have seen people post to their stories and say, “disregard these few slides I’m just updating my highlight icons.” The reason for this is because once they save those to the specific highlights they can then choose them as the cover for the highlight. What they don’t know is there’s a much easier way!
You can add highlight covers without ever posting the photos to your stories and without disrupting your story feed in just 3 simple steps!
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Step 1: Create, Purchase, or Grab Some Free Highlight Icons
There are many options for where you can get Instagram highlight covers. Pinterest is a great place to find them but if you want a full matching set you may want to make your own, purchase a premium set, or grab a free set.
I wrote a full tutorial on how to create your own icons using the Canva app. I also have free icons available if you want to get started right away.
Once you have a set of icons on hand, you can move onto the next step!
Step 2: Edit Highlights
Go to your Instagram profile and click on the highlight you’d like to add a cover to. Then click the more button at the bottom right-hand corner. Next, click on edit highlight.



Step 3: Edit Covers
Once you’re in the highlight editing screen click on edit cover. Scroll through until you see the little picture icon all the way to the left and click on it. This will allow you to choose a photo from your photo album. Select your photo, center it as needed and hit done! That’s it! No need to interrupt your story feed ever again!




If you’d like to learn how to create your own highlight icons and grab some free ones, click here!
PREMIUM INSTAGRAM ICONS
If you’re looking for premium Instagram icons, I have you covered! You may be wondering what makes these premium icons better than my free icons… The answer is they are editable! That means you can change anything you want on them using Canva to reflect your personal aesthetic. Change up the colors, use them, and then do it all over again as many times as you want! So fun, right?!
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