How To Repost Someone Else’s Instagram Story

You likely already know you automatically get a notification if you’re tagged in an Instagram Story. You can then check the post and comment or reshare it in your own Story. However, certain restrictions apply.

One of the golden rules of social media is to keep reposting old stuff to a minimum. Most of your friends will already have seen the Story and won’t want to see it again. If you have different friends or want to shout out the Story, then there is nothing wrong with a quick repost to share with friends. If you don’t always do it and ensure you make plenty of your own Stories, your friends shouldn’t mind.

Keep reading to learn how to repost other people’s Instagram Stories.

Reposting an Instagram Story

The ability to repost an Instagram Story was gradually rolled out across the world. It was a subtle update, mainly due to the desire to prevent stale content (repeated Stories).

Some users didn’t notice for a while that if you are notified of being mentioned in an Instagram Story, you should see an ‘Add This to Your Story’ link from the Instagram app’s notifications feed on Android and iOS/iPhone devices. If you miss it, you can also find it in IG Direct Messages or IG Messenger (the latest messages version that intertwines with the actual Messenger app).

Note: Sharing another person’s Instagram Story is only possible when the poster’s privacy is set to “Public” and you were mentioned before or after it was posted.

Also, note that you won’t get an @mention notification when using the web version, and you can’t share their Story on yours either.

Note: To share someone’s Story on yours, they must allow others to share it from within the app’s settings. Otherwise, you won’t get the ‘Add This to Your Story’ link from your @mention notifications or see the “Add to Story” option on the Story’s page.

There is one last thing to mention. Sharing a person’s Instagram Story on yours is still a rarity because many people don’t know or have the privacy feature enabled, including friends, professionals, and even businesses. Furthermore, the Story must contain content from a “Public” source or a Reel or post that you can open and share to your IG Story.

Adding an Instagram Story to Yours through @mentions

As previously explained, you must get mentioned in an IG Story to share it on your Story, and their profile must be set to “Public.” However, there are some exceptions―more on that later.

Use the steps below to repost a public’s/follower’s Story that mentioned you.

1. Open the IG Story you want to share inside your Story by tapping on it from the sliding carousel at the top.
2. While playing, tap the “Share” icon and choose “Share to my Story.”
3. Follow the Story creation prompts and submit it.

Adding an Instagram Story to Yours through Reels and Posts

Some Instagram Stories include Reels or posts/images in their video. You will know when you tap on that segment in the Story and find a “View post” or “Watch full reel” link button. In that case, you can access and share the source material within your Story. Of course, exceptions are also here, which you’ll find in the next section.

Here’s how to share an IG Story containing Reels or image posts.

1. Access the “Instagram Home page” and choose the “Story” icon at the top for the one you want to add to your Story.
2. Tap on the Story while it’s playing. Select the “View post” or “Watch full reel” link to open the original page.
3. Tap the “share” icon in the lower-right section.
4. Choose “Add to story.”
5. In the Story creation process, make any edits you desire, then tap “Your story” in the bottom-left to instantly post it or select the “>” icon to get more share options, followed by pressing the blue “Share” button.
6. Tap “Done” unless you want to share it in IG Messages, in which case you would tap the “Send” button next to any recipients.

Once you publish your Story, the original poster will appear in a little icon. The Story will be posted on your feed as your other Stories, and your friends can select the original poster’s icon to be sent to their profile. As long as their profile is public, your friends will be able to see their profile and interact as usual.

Some Exceptions for Sharing Someone Else’s Story in Yours

You already know that to share an IG Story on yours, the user’s profile must be set to “Public,” and the Story must include a “mention” of your username. However, you may not know that there are some exceptions to the rule. This subject was mentioned above, so here it is.

First, you can share a Story on yours that didn’t include a mention, as long as it contains a public Reel or Post you can open and use in your Story, as mentioned above.

Second, a Story that uses a Reel or Post can be used to create your Story by tapping on it and selecting “View post” or “Watch full reel.” Next, tap the “Share” icon and choose “Share to my Story.” If you go this route, remember that the video will get cut to the maximum time allowed on a Story, but it does work.

Sharing a Story in Direct Messages

If you’d like to send the Story to only one or a few people, Instagram gives you the freedom to do so. Assuming their privacy settings don’t prevent it, follow these steps:

Open the Story you’d like to repost

Tap the Airplane icon

The location of the airplane icon may vary depending on your OS, so you may have to search for it.

Select the recipients and ‘Send’

When reposting is a good thing

Reposting other people’s work on social media is something that has to be done sparingly and be done correctly. Instagram takes care of attribution by adding the original Story creator’s profile to your repost, but if it didn’t, it is good manners to attribute them with a hashtag or link.

Reposting can be helpful for individual users and people promoting themselves, their products or services, or their business. You just have to do it right.

Here are some ways reposting can be a positive:

Promoting a local event or charity – Nobody minds you reposting an Instagram Story promoting a local event or charity, as long as you only do it once and it adds value to that organization.

Providing helpful tips or problem-solving – A bit like TechJunkie does here, reposting a suggestion for fixing an issue or solving a problem is always welcome. We all have tech issues occasionally, so genuinely helpful advice is usually gratefully accepted.

Sharing interesting, random, or breaking news – As long as it isn’t fake news or political content, people don’t usually mind reposting something unexpected, interesting, or news-breaking. Just be selective in what you post and keep it relevant.

Promoting yourself or your products – You must be careful not to over-promote. Still, the occasional repost to promote something you did or something your product or service achieved is usually well-received. As long as this kind of repost is kept to a minimum, it usually goes down okay.

Reposting an Instagram Story is usually okay as long as the original poster doesn’t mind and it is relevant to the people you’re sharing it with. Promote yourself too often, and people will quickly begin switching off. That means when you do post something genuinely useful, it won’t have the reach it really should.

Why can’t I repost someone’s Story?

More than likely, that person’s account is set to “Private.” If that’s the case, it should give you a message stating only those who are friends with that person can see the content.

If you’re not seeing the airplane icon, check that your Instagram app has the latest updates. As mentioned above, some users didn’t get the option to repost stories when others did. Updating your app may allow you to repost.

Another reason you may be unable to repost someone else’s Story is that Instagram prevents you from doing so. Whether you’ve violated community guidelines or another reason, you may want to reach out to Instagram support if you aren’t able to repost stories when you know you should.

Will someone know if I repost their Story? Even if I send it in a DM?

Yes, the user will be notified that you’ve shared their Story. It’s best to check with someone first unless it falls into one of the abovementioned categories.

Can someone see that I viewed their Instagram story?

Yes. The creator can click on their Story and see every person who watched it.