Posting Instagram Stories is one of the most effective ways to reach a wider audience, drive traffic to your posts/links, and engage with your niche audience online. Because of this, brands and influencers alike continually strive to improve the visuals they post by using the best Instagram Story apps available!
In case you don’t know, “Stories” are a feature of Instagram wherein users can post a mixture of photos and/or videos that will expire after 24 hours.
With the use of apps, there is absolutely NO need to hire an expensive graphic editor because there are a lot of applications that can already fill your design needs; however… take note of how I said “a lot”.
There surely are a plethora of apps available today and it can get dizzying to weed out the ones that would actually help you create beautiful and high-quality content… but don’t fret. In this post, I am sharing with you the best Instagram Story apps that popular brands and influencers are using in order to level up their Insta game — so that you can do the same!
Table of Contents
Best Instagram Story Apps
» Photo & Video Editing Apps «
These are the best Instagram Story apps that can edit both photos and videos all at the same time. Most of them also come with added functionalities such as stickers, text overlays, transitions, and many others.
1. Unfold
Created by Squarespace, Unfold has got to be one of the top best Instagram Story apps that I use when editing my stories! After all, they have a lot of amazing design templates that range from minimal to elegant styles.
FEATURES:
~ 400+ template collections (mix of FREE and paid ones)
~ Built-in photo and video editing tools as well as filters
~ Exclusive text fonts, stickers, GIFs, and other tools
~ It is also possible to plan your Instagram feed with its ‘Feed Planner’
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features (monthly/yearly plan)
DOWNLOAD: iOS / Android
– – –
2. Storyluxe
If you want to expand your design choices, Storyluxe is the next best Instagram Story apps you should have! Much like Unfold, they add new design choices regularly so do keep a lookout!
FEATURES:
~ 700+ Instagram stories templates in various styles (mix of FREE and paid ones)
~ Built-in photo and video editing tools as well as filters
~ Exclusive text fonts, stickers, GIFs, and other tools
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features (monthly/yearly plan)
DOWNLOAD: iOS
– – –
3. StoryArt / Artory
StoryArt (or Artory on iOS) has got to be one of the best Instagram Story apps that has a huge number of templates for you to choose from. Plus, they add new ones EVERY MONTH so there is surely a design that will match any event or season!
FEATURES:
~ 3,000+ template collections (mix of FREE and paid ones) — some of which are animated templates
~ Built-in photo and video editing tools as well as filters (includes 30+ music soundtracks)
~ Exclusive text fonts, stickers, GIFs, and other tools
~ Animated text effects
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features (monthly/yearly plan or one-time payment)
DOWNLOAD: iOS / Android
– – –
4. Seen
From Lightricks (the makers of Facetune and Facetune2), you’ll never post boring Instagram Stories ever again! With their number of templates, there’s much to choose from to let your personality shine through.
FEATURES:
~ 1,000+ template collections (mix of FREE and paid ones) — some of which are animated templates
~ Built-in photo and video editing tools as well as filters
~ Exclusive text fonts, stickers, GIFs, and other tools
~ Animated text effects
~ Transition effects between stories
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features (monthly/yearly plan or one-time payment)
DOWNLOAD: iOS
– – –
5. Canva
Canva is a well-known website and application that grants anyone the ability to design no matter if they don’t know anything about graphics or not — from serious resume templates to fun Pinterest pins, this app has it all! Naturally, they also have an array of designs for Instagram Stories.
FEATURES:
~ 60,000+ template collections (mix of FREE and paid ones) — some of which are animated templates
~ Built-in photo and video editing tools as well as filters
~ Exclusive text fonts, stickers, GIFs, and other tools
~ Animated text effects
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features (monthly/yearly plan)
DOWNLOAD: iOS / Android
– – –
6. Adobe Express
You can never go wrong with any of Adobe’s products. Much like Canva, their Spark app is one of the best Instagram Story apps for seamlessly creating designs that will help tweak your images and videos.
FEATURES:
~ 30,000+ template collections (mix of FREE and paid ones) — some of which are animated templates
~ Built-in photo and video editing tools as well as filters
~ Exclusive text fonts, stickers, GIFs, and other tools
~ Millions of FREE stock photos to choose from
~ Background music features
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features (monthly/yearly plan)
DOWNLOAD: iOS / Android
– – –
7. Over
Over is one of my favorite apps whenever I want to make quick designs with eye-catching text designs! As a user, you can even create personalized logo designs for your branding needs.
FEATURES:
~ 10,000+ template collections (mix of FREE and paid ones) — some of which are animated templates
~ Built-in photo and video editing tools as well as filters
~ Exclusive text fonts, stickers, and other tools
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features (monthly/yearly plan)
DOWNLOAD: iOS / Android
– – –
8. Photogrid
If you want to create fun collage templates for your Instagram Stories, this is the best app for you! Rest assured, you can make use of both photo and video files for your edits.
FEATURES:
~ 20,000+ template collections (mix of FREE and paid ones) — some of which are animated templates
~ Built-in photo and video editing tools as well as filters
~ Exclusive text fonts, stickers, GIFs, and other tools
~ Real-time selfie camera and recorder with a smart face filter
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features (monthly/yearly plan)
DOWNLOAD: iOS / Android
– – –
9. Patternator
If you want to create these fun and silly images (like what you see in the photos above), then you should definitely download Patternator on your smartphone!
FEATURES:
~ Create customizable still or animated patterns from your photos
~ Flexible editing tool that’s easy to control
~ Exclusive backgrounds and stickers
~ Save patterns as live photo, video or GIF
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features (monthly plan)
DOWNLOAD: iOS / Android
– – –
10. Jumprope
If you’re a blogger or influencer who wants to share step-by-step templates of your recipes, tutorials, routines, things to do lists, and many others, Jumprope app is the perfect app for you!
FEATURES:
~ Personalize multiple stories into step-by-step how-tos
~ Incorporate both photo and video files
~ Editing tools like time-lapse, filters, background music, and voiceovers
~ Easily feature products in a shoppable format
.
PRICE: FREE
DOWNLOAD: iOS / Android
– – –
11. Motionleap
Got a photo image that you want to animate or turn into a cinematic clip — or how about a boomerang? With Motionleap you can do these and more in order to bring your photos to life! (Just think of those moving cinemagraph photos seen in Harry Potter movies).
As such, you can easily animate an element in your photo: the sky, the water, the candle, the coffee steam and so much more! You can even replace bland skies with colorful sunsets or moving clouds.
FEATURES:
~ Animation tools that create movement
~ Camera effects such as 3D, tilt, zoom, and dolly
~ Various overlays to add mood and emotion
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features (monthly/yearly plan or one-time payment)
DOWNLOAD: iOS / Android
• • •
» Typography «
Beyond the previous list of best Instagram Story apps that cater to both photo and video files, there are also applications like the ones below that focus primarily on typography styles — or basically on various text designs so that you can freely edit and animate them as you please!
12. Typorama
Typorama is an amazing app that lets you layer well-designed typographic designs on top of your photos! The best part? These text designs can be complex layouts made from different fonts which are perfect for grabbing your audiences’ attention.
FEATURES:
~ 100+ different font types and pre-made quotes
~ Advanced text styling tools (e.g. 3D, shadows, distortion, etc.)
~ Enrich your text with badges, ribbons, and other design elements
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features (monthly or one-time payment)
DOWNLOAD: iOS
– – –
13. Font Candy
For more text or typography style options, make sure to check out and download Font Candy on the Apple Store!
FEATURES:
~ 45+ artistic fonts
~ Editing tools such as mask, curving, shadow, opacity, etc.
~ Has pre-made artwork and quotes
~ Text animation capability
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features (weekly plan)
DOWNLOAD: iOS
– – –
14. Hype Text
Create stunning introductions on your Instagram Stories with animated text that will truly “hype” up your content! This app is also perfect for other videos you may need such as for YouTube, TikTok, and more!
FEATURES:
~ 500+ text animation styles
~ Different font style available
~ Various editing templates, tools, effects, and motion styles
~ Green screen and GIF maker
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features
DOWNLOAD: Android
– – –
15. Captions
Save time with Caption’s amazing voice-to-text feature wherein you can just press record, speak, and see how your speech is automatically turned into captions or subtitles! This is actually used by a lot of TikTok users as a word-by-word captioning app and it’s often accurate — rest assured, you can correct the text before exporting the final version.
FEATURES:
~ 15 different speech recognition languages
~ Snapchat, Instagram, and classic text styles with standard colors
~ Capable of captioning old non-live videos
.
PRICE: FREE
DOWNLOAD: iOS
FREE ALTERNATIVE: MixCaptions (FREE) or Clipomatic (Paid)
• • •
» Video Editing Apps & Others «
I have already discussed some of the best Instagram Story apps that can deal with video clips too, but if you want applications that have it as its prime focus, you should then check out the following!
16. Life Lapse
Ever seen those cool stop motion videos online? With the Life Lapse app, you can do just that — but simpler and far easier than how the pros do it! They even have in-depth tutorials to help you make a polished stop motion video.
FEATURES:
~ Crop guidelines and guided timers
~ Exclusive songs and tools for editing (opacity, filters,etc.)
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features
DOWNLOAD: iOS / Android
– – –
17. InShot
If I had to pick one video editor from all of these best Instagram Story apps, I would most likely pick InShot because of its fun and easy-to-use interface. Go and give it a shot to see what I mean!
FEATURES:
~ Hundreds of filters, effects, music, SFX (sound effects), and transitions
~ Resizing tools to fit Instagram, Facebook, etc.
~ Incorporate both photo and video files
~ Add your own music and voice over
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features (monthly/yearly plan or one-time payment)
DOWNLOAD: iOS / Android
– – –
18. Boosted
If you rather want an app that has ready-made video templates not only for your Stories but also for your other social media channels, Boosted is a great way to level up your content game!
FEATURES:
~ 30,000+ template collections (mix of FREE and paid ones) — some of which are animated templates
~ Built-in photo and video editing tools as well as filters
~ Exclusive text fonts, stickers, and other tools
~ Access the Getty Images video clip library
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features (monthly/yearly plan or one-time payment)
DOWNLOAD: iOS / Android
– – –
19. Mojo
Positioning itself as an Instagram Story editor, Mojo has hundred of stylized templates that you can use for all your video clips. Plus, every month, they add new text styles and templates!
FEATURES:
~ 1,000 video story templates
~ 100+ text styles (static and animated)
~ Customize tools
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features (monthly/yearly plan)
DOWNLOAD: iOS / Android
– – –
20. Hyperlapse
If in case your phone doesn’t have a time-lapse option (or even if it already has!) this Hyperlapse app made by Instagram is great for taking smooth handheld time-lapse videos — no matter if you’re walking, running, jumping, or even falling.
FEATURES:
~ In-house stabilization for polished time lapses
~ Cinematic feel with smooth stability
~ Speed control (up to 12 times the speed)
.
PRICE: FREE, with paid premium features
DOWNLOAD: iOS
• • •
» BONUS: Filters & Other Edits «
To amplify your raw photos, clips, and B-roll footage, you should definitely take note of these other top best Instagram Story apps that are well-known and widely-used by many!
Face Filters
- Instagram’s In-House Filters: A lot of Instagram users have since been creating their own effects or face filters, so try and capitalize on this to add some fun and ‘spice’ to your selfies!
- TikTok: Much like Instagram, there are a lot of in-house face filters incorporated by TikTok (sample popular filters are: Green Screen, Square Dance, and Half Focus)
- B612: Truth be told, a lot of the filters imported over to TikTok are from this app which is made by SNOW Inc., a South Korean company under the giant Naver Corporation.
- Snapchat: And of course, how can we forget Snapchat? The app that started the craze for face filters!
– – –
Photo Filters
- Lightroom: A lot of influencers use Lightroom for improving the color grading of their photos, and you should definitely get on the craze too! If you want to check out a sample of presets that you can use, go here.
- Snapseed: This is another amazing app especially if you want to use comprehensive editing tools such as ‘Healing’ which is great for erasing blemishes or even for erasing people in your background!
- VSCO: One of the earliest apps that ushered the era of filters and color grading! Up to this day, VSCO continues to provide amazing filters and photo editing tools to help you curate the perfect mood for all your photos.
• • •
Overall
What are you waiting for? Start growing your influence and improving your content with the help of these amazing apps!
Have you seen my latest vlog?
 (2024))
