How to make an Instagram story mockup that looks real

What you need

A photo in portrait format, a username and one or two short lines of text. Fakeconvo's Instagram story generator draws the story full screen in the Instagram style, is free, needs no account and puts no watermark on the PNG. Your photo and text stay in your browser.

Five steps to a realistic Instagram story

1. Pick who posted it. The first message is the story, and its "Sender" is the account in the header. Under People, type the name and a "Handle" (without one, the username is made from the name), tick "Verified badge" for the blue check, and click the round button before the name to add a profile photo.
2. Add the photo. Under the first message, click "Photo" and pick an image: it is cropped to the 9:16 story format. Without a photo the story shows Instagram's colour gradient, which works for a text-only story.
3. Write the text. Each message's text becomes a white text box in the middle of the story, one under the other, so keep them short: one line for the hook, one for the detail. "+ Date / notice" adds a tilted sticker, such as "📍 Juniper Bakery" or "link in bio".
4. Choose your story or someone else's. If the sender is you, the bottom shows an eye with the number you type in "Views" and "Activity", as when you look at your own story. Pick another person as the sender and you get the "Send message" bar with the heart and the arrow instead, as a follower sees it.
5. Set the time and export. Type how long ago it was posted ("2h", "35m") in the first message's "Time"; "Show timestamps" hides it. Set the "Status bar time" and battery, then download the PNG at 2x or 3x. Stories are always dark, so "Dark mode" does not change them.

Details that make a story look staged

Real stories are quick and casual: a phone photo, a few words, maybe a location sticker. A long paragraph, a stock photo or a polished ad banner squeezed into 9:16 reads like an advert, not a story. Keep the main subject in the middle third, because the header and the bottom bar cover the top and bottom.

Make the numbers fit the account. A small bakery with 1,284 views on a two-hour-old story is believable; 2 million is not. The time in the header counts back from now, so "2h" with a status bar clock of 8:05 means it went up around six in the morning; make sure that fits the photo.

Use it the right way

Story mockups are for ads, client pitches, social media plans, app demos, videos and lessons, such as showing a class how a fake "giveaway" story from a copycat account looks. Do not post as a real person or brand you do not run, do not make a story that looks like proof of something that never happened, and do not use one to scam, bully or embarrass anyone. Our acceptable use page has the details.