How to Use Instagram's Close Friends Feature

Some things are better shared with just a few friends

Updated on January 11, 2021

reviewed by

Stories are a popular feature on Instagram for sharing content on a more casual basis than regular posts, but you don't always want to share them with all of your followers. In this case, Instagram's Close Friends feature is a good solution. Here's how to use it.

Instagram's Close Friends feature is only available on the official mobile app for iOS or Android. You can't use it in a web browser.

What Is Instagram's Close Friends Feature?

Instagram's Close Friends feature is a customizable list of people you like sharing your stories with the most. It helps you instantly share those more intimate stories with just the users you consider closest to you (whether you follow them or not).

At this time, you can only use Close Friends with stories and not with other Instagram sharing features like posts or direct messages.

How to Use Close Friends on Instagram

Follow these steps to create a Close Friends list and add people to it.

Tap your profile picture in the bottom-right of the screen.
Select the menu button in the top-right corner.
Select Close Friends from the vertical menu.
You should see a list of suggested users to add to your Close Friends list. Tap Add to include someone in that list, or use the Search field at the top to quickly locate and add a specific person.

Users don't know when you add them to your Close Friends list. You can tap Your List at the top to see everyone on it. Instagram has no known limit to how many users you can add to your Close Friends list.
If this is your first time creating a Close Friends list, tap Create List. If you already have a Close Friends list, skip this step.

Once you create a Close Friends list, you can easily share stories with them. Take a photo or record a video, then tap the Close Friends button at the bottom of the screen to instantly share it.

To remove someone from your Close Friends list, navigate to Your Profile > Menu > Close Friends > Your List and tap Remove beside the person's username. Users are not notified when you do this.

How Users Know They're One of Your Close Friends

Although Instagram doesn't notify users when you add or remove them from your Close Friends list, they can tell which stories you shared with Close Friends from the stories you share with everyone by looking at the color of the ring around your profile picture in the stories feed whenever you post a new one. Close friends see a green ring instead of a pink ring. The green ring is the only way a user can tell they're a Close Friend.

Was this page helpful?

Thanks for letting us know!

Tell us why!