How to Repost an Instagram Story: Tagged, Untagged and Your Own Archive
To repost an Instagram Story you were tagged in, open the direct message that says someone mentioned you, tap Add to your story, edit it if you want, then share it to Your Story or Close Friends. That is the only true one-tap repost button Instagram offers for Stories, and it only appears when someone mentions you. If you were not tagged, there is no native repost button, so you will need the creator’s permission and a manual method instead. This guide covers every route: tagged Stories, untagged Stories, feed posts and Reels shared to Stories, and your own archived Stories.
How to Repost a Story You Were Tagged In
When someone mentions your username in their Story, Instagram sends you a direct message saying they mentioned you. Open that message and you will see the Story preview with an Add to your story option next to it. Tap it, and the Story opens in your Story editor with the original creator’s username attached as a tap-through credit. You can resize it, move it around, add text or stickers, then tap Your Story to publish it or choose Close Friends for a smaller audience.
That attached username matters. It is how Instagram gives credit, and it lets your viewers tap through to the original creator’s profile. Do not cover it with a sticker or crop it out. One catch: this only works while the original Story is still live, meaning within 24 hours of posting. Once it expires, the Add to your story option disappears.
Why the Repost Button Sometimes Does Not Appear
If you were tagged but there is no Add to your story option, a few things are usually going on. The original Story may have already expired. The poster may have turned off resharing in their settings. Or the poster’s private account may block resharing to people who do not follow them.
Instagram lets every user control this. In Settings, under Sharing and reuse, there is a Stories to stories option with three choices: Everyone, Followers you follow back, or Off. If the poster set it to Off, nobody can repost their Stories, even when tagged. There is no way around this setting, and that is by design.
Note that reposting a Story is mobile-only: the web version shows the mention but offers no Add to your story option, so use the app on your phone, and update the app if the option is missing entirely.
How to Repost an Untagged Story
There is no native button for reposting a Story you were not mentioned in. Instagram simply does not offer one. The cleanest option is to ask the creator to tag you. They cannot add a tag to a live Story after posting, but they can repost the Story themselves with your username mentioned, or send you the original file so you can upload it with credit.
If the creator agrees, the other manual route is a screen recording. Record the Story while it plays, then upload the recording as your own Story with a clear, visible credit to the original creator. Never crop out a username or watermark, never present someone else’s work as your own, and never monetize a reposted Story without the creator’s explicit permission.
How to Share Feed Posts and Reels to Your Story
Sharing a feed post or a Reel to your Story is a different flow, and it does have a native button. Open the post or Reel, tap the paper-plane share icon below it, then choose Add post to your story. The post opens in your Story editor as a tappable sticker that links back to the original post. You can add your own commentary above it before publishing.
This works for most public posts. Private accounts can limit it, and some creators turn off sharing for their posts, in which case the option will not appear. Pair your share with a short line of context, and a tool like the Instagram caption generator can help you draft that line quickly when you are short on words.
How to Repost Your Own Old Stories From the Archive
Your own Stories do not disappear forever after 24 hours. Instagram saves them to your Stories Archive unless you turned archiving off. To reshare one, go to your profile, tap the menu in the top right, tap Archive, then choose Stories Archive. Browse to the Story you want, open it, and tap Share at the bottom. It opens in the Story editor, where you can add fresh text or stickers before posting it again.
This is the easiest repost of all, because there are no permission issues: it is your content. Resharing an old Story is a smart move when a post performed well the first time, when a seasonal moment comes around again, or when new followers missed it.
Clearing Up the Repost Button Confusion
Instagram announced a Repost button in August 2025, but it applies to public feed posts and Reels, not to Stories. Reposting a Reel sends it to your followers’ feeds with credit to the original creator. It does not add a repost button to Stories, and it does not change any of the Story methods described above. If you read that Instagram now has a repost button and then cannot find it on a Story, this is why.
A few etiquette habits help: keep credit visible, ask before reposting untagged content, and add your own comment instead of reposting silently. Creators notice proper credit, and a clean repost often earns one in return.
Troubleshooting Quick Reference
If the Add to your story button is missing, run through this checklist. Is the original Story still live, within its 24-hour window. Did the poster allow resharing in Settings under Sharing and reuse. Are you on the mobile app rather than the web version. Is your app updated. If every answer is yes and the button is still missing, the poster’s account privacy settings are the likely cause, and only the poster can change them.
Reposting well comes down to three rules: respect the 24-hour window, respect the creator’s sharing settings, and keep credit visible every time. Do that consistently and reposts become a reliable part of your content mix. And if you want your reshared Stories to reach more people, pairing them with steady posting habits and tools like free Instagram views can help your content get seen, while the free Instagram tools on the homepage cover the rest of your growth basics.
