It’s hard to remember Instagram before the Stories feature was introduced — it’s an easy option for sharing updates and interacting with your followers with way more options to decorate your post than your grid options. While the features to add stickers to your Story or change your font are located in obvious places with corresponding icons, changing the background color on your Instagram Story is not particularly intuitive. But mastering the art of how to change the background color on an Instagram Story will instantly make your slides stand out, which can translate to more views and more engagement. The best part? There’s a solution so simple you’re going to be shocked you didn’t know about it already.
Why would you need to change the background color on Stories? 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 Instagram story background. 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 Instagram Story a bit more, replacing the default background with something else is super easy: All it requires is selecting a new Instagram Story background color and holding your finger on the screen.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to replace the background color with just a few taps.
Add To Your Story
Draft a new Story and pick a photo from your camera roll, or add a Story you’ve been tagged in to your own story. Once the draft screen appears, use two fingers on the screen in a pinching motion to make it smaller, so that it doesn’t fill the screen. You’ll notice the border that appears is a color gradient you didn’t choose. To change it, 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.
If you don’t have time to be an artist about it, but want to quickly add a custom pop color to your photo slide, you can always scribble a bit with the marker tool using the largest brush setting, and then erase to reveal the photo.
Long Press On Your 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. This method will also add a color tint over your photo, which can be a nice effect, especially if you’re going to overlay text and the photo is not the focal point. But if you want your photo to stand out, there’s one more step. To re-reveal your photo, tap the eraser icon, increase the size using the scale on the left, and erase the color over your photo. You can be as precise as you want, changing the opacity or size of the eraser to get clean edges.
Use The Dropper Tool
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.
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