When someone tags you in a story and you select Instagram’s “Add This to Your Story” option, the app picks a color from the tagged image and makes it the background for your story. Same goes for if you select a photo from your library that doesn’t fit the screen perfectly. It’s usually a two-shade gradient or single color, but it doesn’t always match what you had in mind. If you want to personalize your story a bit more, replacing the default background with something else is super easy. All it requires is selecting a new background color and holding your finger on the screen. Here’s a step-by-step guide.
Add to Your Story
- If you want to test this out with a tagged story, navigate to your Instagram inbox and select “Add This to Your Story.” You only have the option with stories shared in the last 24 hours, so it has to be something you were tagged in recently.
- Once the Instagram story appears, select the little scribble icon at the top of the page. It’s to the left of the text icon. From there, choose one of the marker tools. If you want a solid background, pick the first one at the top of the screen, and if you want to lower the opacity, play around with the second brush.
- Next, choose a new background color from the bottom of the screen. Using one finger, tap your screen and hold your finger still for several seconds. It may take a few tries to get the hang of it, but once you do it correctly, you’ll see the background color change.
- If you aren’t loving any of the default color options that Instagram offers, you can use the dropper tool to select a new background color using the colors in the image you’re sharing. Tap the dropper icon in the lower left corner, then pick a color. Long press the screen, and you’ll see the color change.
If You’re Using the Create Screen
- Instagram’s background color tool isn’t just for tagged stories. You can also use it when you’re utilizing the create tool. After typing something, tap the Aa button at the bottom of the screen. Then, tap the scribble tool from the menu that appears, and select a new background color with the marker. Long press and watch it change.
- If you upload a picture from your camera roll to stories and resize it, changing the color is a little bit trickier. Basically, if you long press on the screen, the picture disappears, and you’ll see a solid color instead. One way around this is using the eraser tool to uncover the image.
- First, you can add a picture to your camera roll by opening up the Stories screen and swiping up. Select an image, then long press the color you want to use. From there, tap the eraser tool on the top toolbar, then paint the parts of the screen you want to reveal.
- You can also add a colored overlay over a picture. Once your image is on the screen, long press using the second marker tool from the toolbar, and you’ll see the image change. This is especially useful if you plan to write text over an image and don’t need it to be fully visible.