No, you cannot add a picture to an Instagram post after posting it as Instagram doesn’t have a feature like this. The most you can do is edit a caption and change the order of pictures you posted.
Instagram is not simply a picture-sharing platform but touts itself to be all about sharing mere moments. But is just a moment enough to tell a story?
There are plenty of ways users of the popular social media network can elaborate on the images they post. Besides captions, tags, and hashtags, Instagram continuously seeks to evolve features that can make posts more nuanced.
Launched in 2015, the Layout from Instagram app allows users to collage several photos into a single image that can be posted directly to Instagram.
Since 2017, the Stories feature has allowed Instagram users to create stylized slideshows of photos and videos to tell a linear narrative.
Also in 2017, the introduction of album posts allowed users the ability to upload up to 10 images to a single post.
Instagram has already given users a wide array of methods for telling a story through showing. It still seems to hold this principle that to replace or add images after the fact is to change the very foundation of a post’s story.
Be very selective with what you post and how you elaborate from there. Unless you delete a post altogether, there’s no going back on it.
Can You Add a Photo to an Instagram Post After Posting?
Once a photo has been posted, it is final. You cannot replace the photo of a post after a fact, nor can you add more photos.
You do have the ability to edit the image itself and such text-related supplements as the caption or tags. Adding a photo, however, may be considered broadly misleading to the narrative of the initial image.
What if it is a somewhat abstract image that requires more than caption modification for elaboration?
Technically, you can change or add images you feel better complement the idea of a post. Unfortunately, the only option is the nuclear one.
How to Add More Photos to an Instagram Post After Posting
You cannot add more photos to an Instagram post after it has been made.
And so the nuclear option: the only way to replace an image is to delete the post entirely and create a new one. If an image fails to get an intended point across, you may want to repost it anyways.
But reposting a photo means starting from scratch. The likes, comments, and status on the platform disappear with it.
You can preserve a post’s content by hiding it. Modify it in private or simply archive it out of a cautionary attachment.
Keep in mind that you cannot rearrange posts on a feed. If you want them to be linear, especially if they are telling a collective story, you cannot afford to repost an image if another has already followed it.
If you feel that a story cannot be properly told with only one image, you can make your new post an album. This feature will be further addressed later on.
But let’s look at alternatives to reposting. In most cases, editing a post should be enough to compensate for an inadequate image that cannot be edited.
How to Edit an Instagram Picture After Posting
Although you cannot replace or add images to a post, you can edit the post itself. Among the tools at your disposal in the feature is the modification of the image’s filter.
Know that if you edit a post, engagement rates and ranking are reset, thus distorting the post’s presence on Instagram. Also, if you are hoping to edit discreetly, edited posts may display the tag “Edited” in the comment section.
If you are worried that something is missing from your post, delay its publication by scheduling an automatic release of the draft.
During the interval, you can take time to look the draft over and edit it without a disclaimer.
Instagram, in its fixation on finiteness, discourages editing posts. You may still need to for the sake of making them more engaging.
To edit a post, simply open it from your profile page, open options by selecting the three dots in the right-hand corner of the display, and select “Edit.”
From there, you can edit the caption of the photo. Tighten and clean up the description, or draw it out and add hashtags to go deeper.
If you would like to plug an account alluded to in the image, you can add or move tags in editing.
You can even edit the geotag on the picture if the automatic tag of your location seems inaccurate. You can also remove it altogether.
With Instagram, though, the image comes first. That is to say that the tone and appeal of an image can say more than any caption can.
Post-editing even allows you to change the filter of the image. Make it more appealing or tonally consistent with the story you want to tell.
However, most elements of an image cannot be edited. Editing filters is about the presentation of a post, not so much reframing.
You cannot change the crop of an image or other modification effects. These must be done before the final post is made.
How to Change the Order of Instagram Posts
You cannot change the order of Instagram posts on your timeline. They are strictly listed in order of creation.
Modifying a post does not put it at the top of the timeline. If that is specifically what you want, you can delete the post, create a new one, and endure all the headaches that the process entails.
You can change the order of photos in an album post. Of course, this is a peculiarly difficult and informal process.
Step 1: Open the post you wish to reorder from your profile page.
Step 2: Click the three dots in the upper righthand corner of the post to open options, then select “Edit”.
Step 3: Select the trash icon next in the upper lefthand corner of every picture beside the one you want as the cover of the album, plus at least one more picture. You must have more than one image still active to keep the post in album mode.
Step 4: Confirm the change.
Step 5: Return to the top of your profile and open Settings through the shortcut menu, accessible in the upper righthand corner of the screen.
Step 6: Search and select “Manage Recently Deleted.”
Step 7: Among the photos deleted from the post, select the next photo you would like to see in the album to open it.
Step 8: Select the three dots in the upper righthand corner of the photo, then press and confirm “Restore.”
Step 9: Repeat this process for each deleted photo in the order you would like them to appear in the album.
This should restore the album in the new order of your liking. Be careful, as it is a delicate process.
This is also the most radical way to change the photos of an Instagram post without reposting them.
Why Can’t I Add More Photos After Posting on Instagram?
Instagram has not given a formal statement about why users are not able to replace or add pictures to a post after it has been made.
Perhaps the answer is implied in the platform’s slogan: “Capture and share the world’s moments.”
Instagram posts are about distilling a moment in visual media. Although you can create an illusion of telling a story with effects, captions, and collages, it might do a disservice to the platform’s illusion to completely change a moment.
More cynically, Instagram posts are in constant competition with each other for presence and engagement ratings. As mentioned earlier, simply editing a post resets its metrics, ostensibly on the presumption of unfairly making it more appealing.
This should encourage more users to be responsible in their posts. Make sure that you use the best image possible to get your point across.
How to Post Multiple Photos on Instagram at Once
If you would like to be more of a storyteller on Instagram, the platform still gives you plenty of opportunities with advanced posts and features.
As mentioned earlier, the Instagram Stories feature is designed to create image and video montages for consistent storytelling.
There are three ways to create an Instagram Story from your profile page on the mobile app.
- Press the “+” icon in the right corner of the screen to open the “Create” menu, then select “Story”.
- Press the “Your Story” icon just above your feed.
- Swipe right from the far left side of the screen to open your camera feed then set the output to “Story”.
Spend the rest of the day adding posts to your Story, which will be displayed just above the feed on your profile page. Although these posts disappear within 24 hours, Story Highlights can permanently preserve select moments.
The easiest and most direct storytelling feature for Instagram is album posts. Multiple pictures in a slideshow format can make for a more interesting and visibly defined post.
To create an album on Instagram, upload or take a photo to start a new post, then select the icon of multiple pictures in the bottom right corner of your image. This will allow you to add another image, with a single caption for the final album.
Can You Post More Than 10 Pictures on Instagram?
You can make as many posts as you want on Instagram as a whole, but you are not able to use more than 10 images in a single post.
Instagram is largely a short-concept social media platform. Most users should not have any reason to use more than 10 images to tell a single story. They all share one caption anyways.
If you want to maximize visuals or creativity with them in your posts, Instagram has created a separate app to help you get in touch with your experimental side.
Layout from Instagram, launched in 2015, allows users to uniquely modify images and combine more than one into a single collage.
Easily create a project on Layout by uploading an image or taking a photo. Crop, resize and otherwise adjust multiple photos to fit around each other in potentially creative ways, then either download the image or directly upload it as a post on Instagram.
Conclusion
You can’t change a moment. According to Instagram’s core principles, a moment begins with an image.
Once you have created a post, the featured image cannot be replaced. You also cannot add more photos to the post.
You can edit the post’s captions and tags to expand on whatever story you are telling, and even change the filters of an image.
Of course, as status resets with edited posts suggest, modifying a post goes against fair competition among users to gain recognition on Instagram. Short of deleting and creating a new post entirely, you have to settle for the image(s) you selected.
That being said, you do not have to settle for a single image to tell your story in a post. Add up to 10 images in an album post, or get more creative in your visual storytelling with Instagram Stories or the Layout from the Instagram app.
There are a lot of ways to make your narratives on Instagram more vivid and engaging. You likely should not need to change or supplement the image of a post after it has been made, providing you are a responsible Instagram user.
Social media platforms encourage impulsivity, sharing your moment with the world. As we all know, there can be much greater consequences to this than simply posting a photo that you do not like or feel needs more complement.
Keeping in mind the finiteness of a picture on Instagram can still be a good first step to being more mindful about what you post on social media and how. Know which moments are best to share, if only to better entertain your followers.
