Instagram has no hide button for a single highlight. Highlights follow your story settings: the people you’ve allowed to see your story can also see your highlights (Instagram). To keep highlights from someone, hide your story from them, share to Close Friends, make your account private, or take the story out of the highlight.
Hide your story and highlights from specific people
- Go to your profile and tap the menu (three lines).
- Open Settings and privacy.
- Under Who can see your content, tap Hide story and live. Some versions list it under Story, live and location.
- Select the people and tap Done (Social Champ).
Instagram says this stops them from seeing anything you add to your story from then on (Instagram Help). Guides disagree about highlights you made before you hid someone, and several 2026 guides say those stay visible to that person (SocialRails). If that matters, remove those stories from the highlight as well.
Make a highlight for Close Friends only
Share the stories to your Close Friends list, then add them to a highlight. Guides say only people on the list can see those stories in the highlight (SocialRails), though Instagram’s own help pages don’t say so. You manage the list from your settings (Instagram Help).
Take a story out of a highlight
- Open the highlight on your profile and go to the story.
- Tap More (three dots) and choose Remove from highlight (SocialBu).
Or press and hold the highlight, tap Edit highlight, untick the stories you want out and tap Done. The stories stay in your archive, where only you can see them (Instagram).
Delete a whole highlight
Press and hold the highlight and tap Delete highlight, then confirm (Kontentino). The stories in it stay in your archive, so you can build a new highlight from them later. More in our guide on deleting highlights on Instagram.
Hide highlights from people who don’t follow you
Make your account private: Settings and privacy, Account privacy, then turn on Private account. Only followers you approve can then see your stories and highlights.
Block or restrict?
- Block: blocked people can’t find your profile or see your content, and Instagram doesn’t tell them (Instagram).
- Restrict: doesn’t hide your highlights (SocialRails).
If you’d rather stop seeing someone’s stories than hide yours from them, see how to mute Instagram stories.
FAQ
Can I hide one highlight from one person?
Not directly. Hide your story from them, and take the stories they shouldn’t see out of the highlight.
Can I archive a highlight?
No. Only stories go to the archive. If you delete a highlight, its stories stay there.
Do people know when I hide my story from them?
Instagram doesn’t say it notifies them, and guides say it doesn’t.