Instagram Story Not Posting – What to Do

Every faithful Instagrammer will tell you that Instagram is not only a social media platform for posting your best selfies – it is a way of life.

Since millions of people use Instagram regularly, crashes and bugs are inevitable and very common on this platform. From advertising to connecting with friends, Instagram downtime can be catastrophic. Every bug has a fix though, and this article will help you solve one of the most common Insta issues – the Instagram story bug.

How to Fix the Instagram Story Bug

Imagine taking an awesome photo for your Instagram story. You apply desired filters and enhance your photo with suitable text. You are now ready to post it to your followers to see for the next 24 hours.

You’ve done everything like you usually do, but… And this but is one of the most frustrating buts Instagrammers face – your story won’t post. You receive an error without any explanation and it instantly puts a damper on your excitement. If this happens, don’t despair. The following methods will show you exactly what to do when you’re not able to post your story.

NOTE: Before trying any of these methods, delete your post and try uploading it again. If this doesn’t work, continue with these methods.

Troubleshooting

As with any tech issue, let’s start with a bit of troubleshooting to locate the cause of the problem.

First, it’s highly unlikely that you’re having a hardware issue. As long as your camera is working we can eliminate any hardware bugs. This means we can jump right into software issues.

Updates – If your phone’s software is newer than the app’s software (or vise versa), the two aren’t compatible. On the other hand, if you recently performed an update and the issue began, it’s certainly an issue with the new software. We’ve seen plenty of bad updates throughout the years, so if it just started happening, we know this is where need to look first.

You received a warning from Instagram – If you’ve recently violated the terms and conditions of Instagram’s user policy, it’s likely the reason for your woes. Check your emails and Instagram communications to ensure that you haven’t missed something telling you that you can’t post stories for a while.

Use a different device – Try using another device like a tablet or a friends’ phone. If your Story posts, you’ve isolated the problem to your main device.

Use a different account – Instagram lets us have multiple accounts. Try posting a story on a different account. If it succeeds then you know the problem is with your main account and not your phone or the app.

Upload a different story – Try uploading a blank story with no GIFs, stickers, or emojis. This could be a system error that doesn’t allow you to upload specific content.

Now that we’ve reviewed some things to check you’re better prepared to quickly find the solution. Let’s review some things you can do to fix your Instagram Story woes.

Wait for Instagram Staff to Fix the Bug

One of the most common scenarios is that your Instagram app isn’t working because Instagram developers are either fixing a particular bug or working on a specific feature. It can happen that users can’t refresh their home page, view anyone’s story, or post their own because something is wrong with Instagram’s servers.

In that case, all you can do is, well, nothing at all. First, you need to make sure that there is nothing wrong with your Instagram app or device and that you can’t post stories due to Instagram’s technical difficulties.

To do that, ask a couple of friends if they can post stories without getting any errors. If everyone is having difficulties it is probably a server or bug issue. You can also check Instagram’s website or official Twitter account as they usually post their activities and potential app problems there.

If you don’t see anything on Twitter or Instagram’s website, head over to Down Detector and check for reports and outages. Type ‘Instagram’ in the search box and look for any reports. If there aren’t any, you can submit an error.

Assuming there is an outage or widespread issue, simply wait it out. The developers of Instagram are usually pretty quick to fix these bugs so it shouldn’t take long. Before submitting your own report, try the steps we’ve listed below first.

Restart Your Internet Connection

Fluctuations in your internet speeds do happen. You may have great speeds then experience extreme lagging. Whether it’s your device or your internet provider there are a few things to try before giving up completely.

Assuming Instagram is running just as it should the likely culprit of in-app issues is a poor internet connection. To test this theory, try opening another app (like YouTube which is a data hog anyway). If you experience a lag in the video or takes more than a few seconds to begin the playback, it’s definitely your data connection.

What To Do if Your Internet is Too Slow

You can run a speed test using a third-party application to better understand what your upload and download speeds are at any given moment. Aside from that, if you’re on a cellular-capable device, it’s a good idea to start by switching your connection.

Start by turning off your wifi and connecting to cellular data or vise versa. You can also turn off your wifi, wait ten seconds, and turn it back on giving it time to refresh your network.

If you are connected to a coffee shop’s Wi-Fi network or any other public network, you might want to try using your own Internet, as these types of networks tend to be slow. If you have a mobile hotspot option, toggle that on and see if it helps if you’re using a wifi-only device.

Restart Your Instagram App

Sometimes all that it takes to fix a “temporary” glitch is restarting your Instagram app. Exit the app and clear the history of the apps that you have just recently used. On Android smartphones, you can access this feature by tapping on the two rectangles button, placed one behind another.

After that, open your Instagram app again and check if you can upload your story.

Force Close Your Instagram App

This method requires you to do a bit more work, but it’s straightforward and usually solves the problem. The exact steps depend on the operating system that your smartphone is running, but it all comes down to the following:

1. Access your smartphone’s Settings
2. Find and tap on the Applications option, or similar
   
3. Find the Instagram app and select it
4. Tap on the option that allows you to close this application manually

After completing these steps, try posting something on your Instagram story.

iPhone users have a similar option. Simply head to the settings on your phone, tap on ‘General‘ and then tap on ‘iPhone Storage.’ Scroll down and tap on ‘Instagram‘ then tap ‘Offload App.’ This will remove the app’s excess data while leaving all of your login information intact.

Update Your Instagram App

A lot of your issues with apps come from updates or lack of updates we should say. If your Instagram app is automatically updating it’s time to go to the Google Play Store or Apple App Store and check to see if there is an update available.

App updates not only offer security patches, but they also fix bugs and glitches.

Even if you had one of the latest versions of this app, once a new update becomes available, some of the features may not work properly. If you have enough storage space on your mobile phone, it is best to update your Instagram app as soon as a new update becomes available.

Sometimes when it releases a new feature, Instagram suppresses it and allows users on it slowly so as not to overload the servers. When this happens it also can slow down the overall app so take a deep breath and wait.

Update the Date & Time on Your Phone

This may seem like an odd fix, but if your Date & Time are incorrect it can cause a variety of issues. Wether you’re using an iPhone or an Android, try to set your Date & Time to automatica nad see if the problem ceases.

Upon updating, turn your phone off and back on again then try posting your Story.

FAQ’s

There are some pretty unique situations out there so we’ll try to answer some of the most common questions here.

Every time I post a Story it takes me back to the homepage?

If this is happening to you, try posting your Story without any GIFs or emojis. Oddly enough, several users have reported that they are unable to successfully post Stories if they contain these cute or funny little additions.

I’m only having issues with one of my accounts?

If you manage multiple Instagram accounts on the same device and only one is having issues it’s likely not an issue with an internet connection, your device, or the application. If this is happening to you, head over to that account’s settings. Try toggling it from a Public account to a Private account and back. Instagram is funny with its spam blocking software too, so if you’ve been liking or sharing a lot on that account, Instagram may disable the function for a time.

The option to share a Story isn’t there?

If you’re trying to share someone else’s story or tag a person who isn’t following your account, the option to share the story may not appear. If the original poster has their account set to Private you will not have the option to share the Story.