How to Add Music to Instagram Story : Introducing Music on Instagram Stories

Instagram introduced music in Instagram Stories. Now you can add a soundtrack to your story that fits any moment and helps you express how you’re feeling. Instagram Stories is now used by 400 million every day, and we’re excited to give our community new ways to feel closer to their friends and followers.

When you tap to add a sticker to a photo or video in Stories, you’ll now see a music icon. Tap on it to open a library of thousands of songs — you can search for a specific song, browse by mood, genre or what’s popular and tap the play button to hear a preview. When you’ve selected your song, you can fast-forward and rewind through the track to choose the exact part that fits your story.

You can also choose a song before capturing a video. When you open the camera, swipe to the new “Music” option under the record button. Search for a song, select the exact part you want, and record a video as the song plays in the background.

When your friends are watching your story, they’ll hear the song playing as they’re viewing your photo or video. They’ll also see a sticker showing the song title and artist name.

We’re adding new songs to our music library every day. The music sticker is now available as part of Instagram version 51 in select countries, and the ability to choose a song before capturing video is available on iOS only, with Android coming soon. We know that music can play an important role in how you share your moments and express yourself with friends and we’re working hard to bring it to the global community in the future.

• Tap  to adjust the flash for your photos or videos. To take better photos and videos in the dark, keep tapping until you see  (iPhone only).
• To take a photo or video with a camera effect, swipe left at the bottom of the screen and select an effect. You can also swipe all the way to the left and tap  to see more effects from Instagram and from independent creators. When using the front or back-facing camera, the effect you choose will automatically appear on the closest person’s face. Bear in mind that effects aren’t supported on some older devices.
• To zoom while recording a video, tap and hold with one finger to start recording, then slide up or down using that same finger.
• Tap Boomerang at the bottom of the screen, then tap the circle at the bottom to take a burst of photos that loops forwards and backwards.
• Tap Superzoom to take a video that automatically zooms in on an object and plays a dramatic sound. Tap anywhere on the screen to select an area or object to zoom in on, then tap the circle at the bottom to start recording.
• To take a video without having to tap and hold, swipe left at the bottom of the screen and tap Hands-free. Tap once to start recording a video, or tap and hold to see a timer that counts down before recording.
• Tap Music at the bottom of the screen, then search for a song and tap the one you want. You can edit which part of the song you want to play in your story. Above , you can select different effects that respond to the beat of the music. Swipe left to see all the effects and select the one you’d like to make a video with.
• Tap Create at the bottom of the screen to personalise a story without needing a photo or video to start from. Swipe left at the bottom of the screen to choose to type something, add a GIF or ask a question, among other things.
• Tap Live at the bottom of the screen and then tap  to share a live video and connect with your followers in real time.
• You can switch between front and rear-facing cameras while recording a video. Tap and hold to start recording, then tap .

Editing photos and videos

You can also tap the following creative tools at the top of the screen:

Tap  to add text. From there, you can:

• Add emoji.
• If you use the Classic text style, you can adjust text size up or down by tapping and using the slider.
• Centre text or align left or right by tapping  (only available for some text styles).
• Rotate and resize the text by using two fingers to pinch and zoom.
• Choose a text colour by tapping the colours at the bottom of the screen. Swipe to see more colours, or tap and hold a circle to choose a custom colour.
• Change the text style by tapping the button at the top of the screen.
• Add a colour background to text by tapping  at the top of the screen and selecting a colour.
• Pin text to a fixed spot in your video. After taking a video, add text, then tap it and hold. Use the slider bar at the bottom of the screen to scroll through the video to find where you want to pin the text. Move the text and tap Pin.
• Tap  again to add another section of text.
• Type @ then enter someone’s username to mention them.
• Enter a hashtag (e.g. #flower). People can tap it to view the page for that hashtag.

Tap  to draw on your photo or video. From there, you can:

• Choose from different brushes and drawing tools from the options at the top of the screen.
• Adjust the line thickness by using the slider on the left.
• Choose a colour to draw with by tapping the colours at the bottom of the screen. Swipe left to see more colours, or tap and hold a circle for more colour options. You can also tap  and drag and drop it to select a colour from your photo or video.