Instagram Story mockups sized for 9:16 and the overlays on top of it.

Instagram Story size: the numbers that matter

Every Story format that fills the screen is 9:16. What changes between sources is the pixel count, and the ratio matters more than the exact size: a 9:16 image at 1080 × 1920 and one at 1440 × 2560 both fill the screen, while anything that is not 9:16 leaves Instagram to fill or crop the rest of the screen for you.

Instagram's own help center describes feed photos as stored at up to 1080 pixels wide, which is why 1080 × 1920 became the standard organic Story canvas. Meta's Ads Guide, which covers Story ads, recommends 1440 × 2560 with a minimum width of 500 pixels. If the Story might be boosted or run as an ad later, building at 1440 × 2560 costs nothing and avoids a rebuild.

Safe zones in pixels for 1080 × 1920 and 1440 × 2560

Meta's Ads Guide for Instagram Stories and Reels says to consider leaving roughly 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% on each side free of text, logos and key creative elements, so the profile icon and the call-to-action do not cover them. The percentages are written for ads, where a button sits at the bottom. Organic Stories have a reply bar there instead, which takes less room, so the ad numbers are a conservative margin that works for both.

The safe area is close to square and sits above the vertical center of the canvas. That has a practical consequence: a tall phone screenshot will not fit inside it at full height. Either let the bottom of the device run into the lower zone where nothing essential is shown, or scale the device down. Backgrounds, gradients and decorative shapes can run edge to edge; only content someone has to read or recognize needs to stay inside.

What covers each part of the screen

Knowing what sits on top of the Story tells you what can go underneath. At the top, the progress bars, your profile picture, account name and the close control cover the first strip. At the bottom, an organic Story shows the reply field and send and like controls, while a Story ad shows the call-to-action. Anything you add in Instagram's own editor, such as a link sticker, a poll or a mention, also lands on top of your image.

Plan the sticker position before you export. If the Story will carry a link sticker, leave an empty patch of background in the lower middle of the safe area for it, rather than dropping it over the product later.

• Top strip: progress bars, profile picture, account name, close control
• Bottom band: reply field on organic Stories, call-to-action on ads
• Anywhere you place them: link stickers, polls, mentions and text added in the app
• Sides: tap areas for back and forward, so avoid small details at the very edge

Putting an app or website screenshot in a 9:16 frame

Phone screenshots are taller than 9:16. An iPhone 17 Pro capture is 1206 × 2622 pixels, close to 9:19.5, so stretching it to fill a Story crops the top and bottom of the app. The cleaner option is to place the screenshot in a phone frame and let the frame sit inside the canvas with background around it. The frame also tells the viewer this is an app, not a photo.

A worked layout for 1080 × 1920: a headline of six to eight words starting about 300 px from the top, then an iPhone frame roughly 1150 px tall starting just below the headline. Keep the headline and the part of the screen that matters above 1248 px, where the bottom zone begins; the lower end of the device can run into that zone because the part of the app shown there is not essential.

Desktop screenshots are the hard case. A full dashboard shrunk to 950 px wide becomes unreadable. Crop to one panel, chart or dialog when you capture, using the 9:16 or 4:5 crop in the editor, and show that region large rather than the whole window small.

Story canvases, frames and templates in MockupX

The editor's Story preset is 1080 × 1920 in the Common group. For Story ads, type 1440 × 2560 into the custom size fields, which accept any width and height from 320 to 6000 pixels. Three templates start on the Story canvas: Screenshot Story (frameless screenshot with a headline), iPhone Story (a single iPhone Air frame) and Story Duo (two iPhone 17 Pro frames side by side).

• Phone frames: iPhone 17, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max and iPhone Air in their current finishes, Google Pixel 7 Pro and Nothing Phone
• Crop on capture: original, 1:1, 4:5, 16:9 or 9:16
• Phone upload: scan a QR code to send a screenshot from your phone to the editor in a private 10-minute session
• Optional headline (up to 100 characters) and description (up to 180 characters) on the canvas
• Layouts with one, two or three screens, plus zoom, tilt, shadow, padding and corner radius controls

Plan a Story sequence one frame at a time

Viewers tap through Stories quickly, and each frame is seen on its own before the next one loads. Give each frame one job and keep the layout steady across the set so the change between frames is the product, not the design. A common three-frame product sequence is context, product moment, action.

Keep the device in the same position on every frame. When the phone stays still and only the screen changes, the sequence reads like a demo. When the phone jumps around, each tap feels like a different post.

• Frame 1, context: the problem or the promise in one line, with a cropped hint of the product
• Frame 2, product moment: the screenshot large in a phone frame, headline above it
• Frame 3, action: the same frame position with the result screen, and empty space for a link sticker

Mistakes that only show up on a phone

Most Story problems are invisible on a desktop monitor and obvious on a phone held at arm's length. Before publishing, send the export to your phone and view it full screen, ideally by posting it to a close-friends list or a test account.

• Headline in the bottom third, hidden behind the reply bar or call-to-action
• Interface text smaller than about 36 px on a 1080-wide canvas, which renders tiny on screen
• A 1080 × 1350 feed graphic dropped into a Story, leaving large empty bands
• An Android screenshot inside an iPhone frame, or the reverse
• JPEG export of a screenshot with fine text, which can soften edges; PNG keeps UI text crisp
• Thin or light font weights over a busy gradient background