Instagram tests feature to highlight missed stories from friends

Instagram is trialling a feature to help users view content from friends they may have missed. The social media platform is displaying unseen Story Highlights from mutual followers at the end of the Stories tray, located at the top of the feed.

The test was first identified by social media researcher Ahmed Ghanem.

As Instagram becomes increasingly crowded with Reels and sponsored posts, the new feature aims to help users keep track of updates from people they follow. The Highlights displayed will be unseen content from the past week.

Unseen Story Highlights will only appear once a user has viewed all the current Stories in their tray. This means users who follow numerous accounts and do not typically finish viewing their Stories tray may not encounter the new feature.

Unlike regular Stories, which vanish after 24 hours, the test applies only to Story Highlights, curated collections of Stories saved on users’ profiles.