Instagram shifts Highlights into the main grid and users are not happy

If you’ve ever landed on an Instagram profile and immediately tapped through the little circles under the bio, you know the value of Story Highlights. They serve as a curated trailer for a person or brand’s account. It seems Instagram is ready to change that familiar experience, as the platform has begun rolling out a new layout that moves Highlights from their prime real estate into the main photo grid.

The change, which is slowly appearing for some users, removes the dedicated row of Highlight bubbles and tucks them away into a new, separate tab next to Posts and Reels. A pop-up notification informs affected users, “Your highlights have moved. We’re simplifying the way profiles look. Highlights now appear in the main grid and have their own tab.”

While Instagram is framing this as a move toward simplification, the initial reaction from the community has been anything but simple.

Users on platforms like Reddit were quick to voice their frustration over yet another seemingly unrequested alteration to the app’s interface. One user summed up a common sentiment, asking, “uhh, why? They are constantly making unnecessary changes.”

The core of the criticism seems to be that this change actively harms the visibility of a key feature. As one person pointed out, “these icons all just meld into each other… now there will be FAR LESS people actually clicking on highlights.”

The move is being seen as a solution to a problem that didn’t exist.

This profile redesign wasn’t a complete surprise for those watching closely. Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, hinted at such changes back in August 2024. During a Q&A, he mentioned the possibility of consolidating the profile grid and Story Highlights to allow for more customization. At the time, it was just an idea, but it now appears to be a test in the wild.

 

 

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For now, the change seems to be part of a limited rollout. Checking my own app, I still see the highlights in their usual spot, nestled comfortably under my bio. But I suspect this will be rolling out gradually over the coming days or weeks, much like any other feature Instagram tests before a wider release.

Are you seeing this change yet? Let me know in the comments below.

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