Tech News

Instagram Tests New Feature To Show Unseen Story Highlights From Friends

Highlights

Instagram is testing a new feature to display unseen Story Highlights from mutual followers.
It will display the stories at the end of the Stories tray to help users catch up on missed content.
Users will see unseen Story Highlights from the past week only after viewing all current Stories.

Instagram’s new Highlights Story feature will let you check out stories from friends you have earlier missed. (Image credit – @ahmedghanem on X)

How often does it happen that you miss some Instagram story of your closest friends? Well, it appears the Meta-owned social media app will soon ensure that this doesn’t happen.

Instagram is reportedly testing a new feature to help you check out the content from your friends that you might have missed.

The platform has started displaying unseen Story Highlights from mutual followers at the end of the Stories tray. This section will appear at the top of your feed where Stories appear.

A Meta spokesperson shared with TechCrunch, “We’re always working on new ways to help people connect in Stories and are testing bringing recent Highlights to the end of the tray with a small group of people.”

This feature was first spotted by social media expert Ahmed Ghanem.

#Instagram is testing a new Highlights Story feature that displays highlights from profiles you follow as Stories. It seems to work as a way to catch up if you missed the original content
🔗 Follow my WhatsApp Channel for more updates: pic.twitter.com/1TXbB4G4ub

— Ahmed Ghanem (@ahmedghanem) December 17, 2024

It’s easy to overlook updates from the people you follow with Instagram’s growing focus on Reels and sponsored posts. This new feature aims to ensure users don’t miss out on original content from friends and family.

According to Meta, users will see unseen Story Highlights from the past week, but only after they’ve viewed all the current Stories in the tray. If you don’t often make it to the end of your Stories tray, you might miss these Highlights too.

It’s important to note that this feature doesn’t include regular Stories that vanish after 24 hours. It instead focuses on Story Highlights, which are the curated Stories that users have chosen to save to their profiles.

Instagram hopes to strengthen connections and make sure meaningful updates from your friends are not missed by surfacing unseen Highlights.

FAQs

Q1. What new feature is Instagram testing to help users catch up on missed content?

Answer. Instagram is testing a new feature to display unseen Story Highlights from mutual followers at the end of the Stories tray to help users catch up on missed content.

Q2. When will users see the unseen Story Highlights in their Stories tray?

Answer. Users will see unseen Story Highlights from the past week only after they have viewed all the current Stories in the tray.

Q3. What is the focus of the new feature being tested by Instagram?

Answer. The new feature focuses on Story Highlights, which are curated Stories saved to user profiles, rather than regular Stories that vanish after 24 hours.