What is the Instagram profile grid?

The grid is the gallery on a profile page, and Instagram’s own writing uses the word that way. In a post dated 21 November 2018, which announced tests of a new layout at the top of profiles, Instagram said that the photos and videos “you’ve shared on your grid won’t change”. The same post calls your profile the place where you share who you are on Instagram.

The grid is not the Feed. The Feed is where the people who follow you see your posts as they scroll. The grid is what someone sees after they tap through to your profile, and it puts your shared posts side by side for a visitor to browse.

Two official posts show how the grid has been handled. The 2018 post says the changes being tested sat at the top of the profile, in icons, buttons and the way you move between tabs, and that what was on the grid would stay as it was. Instagram’s announcement of Reels, posted on 5 August 2020, says a reel lives on a separate Reels tab on your profile, and that if you also share it to Feed it appears on your main profile grid, though you have the option to remove it.

Both posts are years old. Instagram’s Help Center gives some current facts. Its article on photo resolution says photos are kept at up to 1,080 pixels wide, that shapes from 1.91:1 to 3:4 are kept while others are cropped to fit a supported ratio, and that wider photos are sized down to 1,080. Another article says you can pin up to 3 of your posts to the top of your profile. Neither describes the shape of a profile tile, so this page doesn’t state one. Instagram’s own timeline shows that formats move: it lists August 2015 as the month Instagram expanded photo formats, going beyond the square. Check the details in your own app:

• Which kinds of post appear in the grid, and which sit on a separate tab, such as Reels.
• How a tile crops your image: compare a post you have opened in full with its tile on your profile.
• Whether your app lets you hide, reorder or pin a post on the grid. Instagram’s Help Center says to tap one of your posts, tap Options, then Pin to main grid, and that you can pin up to 3.
• How the first rows look on a phone screen, because that is the part a new visitor sees before scrolling.

A visitor who finds you through a comment, a message or an ad may tap your name to see who is behind it. The grid is the first thing they meet there, before they read a word of your bio. A grid that shows what you sell, who it is for and how to get in touch answers their question at a glance. A pile of unrelated pictures makes them work for the answer.

It also shows a stranger whether the account is still active. Offers that have ended, blurry covers and posts that no longer apply all sit side by side, in a way a single post never does.

Tip: If you run comment-to-DM with DMFast, put the keyword on the cover, for example GUIDE, so a tile tells someone scanning your grid what to comment. For a Reel, Instagram’s 2020 launch post says you can change the cover image on the share screen. For other post types, check how your app chooses the tile.

• Decide what a stranger should learn from the first few rows: what you do, who it is for and what to do next.
• Keep any text on a cover short and big enough to read at tile size. Check it on a phone held at arm’s length.
• Keep the important part of a picture away from the edges, in case a tile crops it differently from the post.
• Make sure the post that answers your most common question has a cover that works as a tile.
• Take down or hide posts that are out of date, such as an offer that has ended, if your app lets you.

Do not chase a rigid pattern. A consistent look helps people recognise you, but a clear, useful post beats a perfect checkerboard.