TikTok Story Highlights: What They Are and How to Use Them Well
By the TikDop team ·
Stories on TikTok disappear after 24 hours. That's the point of them — quick, casual, no pressure. But every now and then you post a story you'd actually like to keep around: a behind-the-scenes clip, a product demo, an answer to a question people keep asking. That's what highlights are for.
Highlights are collections of stories pinned to your profile. They sit under your bio as little round bubbles and stay there until you remove them. If you've used Instagram, the idea will feel familiar.
A quick caveat before we start: TikTok rolls out features gradually and not every account sees the same options at the same time. If something below doesn't appear for you, it may simply not have reached your account or region yet.
Stories vs highlights vs regular posts
It helps to think of them as three layers:
- Regular posts are your main content. They're shown on the For You page, stay on your profile and are what most people judge your account by.
- Stories are casual and temporary. They show up for followers and friends, usually at the top of their feed, and vanish after a day.
- Highlights are hand-picked stories that you've decided to keep. They don't get pushed to new viewers; they're for people who visit your profile.
So highlights are less about reach and more about what people see when they land on your profile. That makes them surprisingly useful.
How to add a story to a highlight
The exact steps vary by app version, but the general flow looks like this:
- Post a story as usual.
- Open your profile and look for a + or New bubble under your bio, or open the story and look for an option to add it to a highlight.
- Choose which stories to include. You can usually pick from your story archive, not just the ones that are currently live.
- Give the highlight a short name and choose a cover.
- Save it. It now appears on your profile.
To edit or delete a highlight later, long-press it or open it and use the menu.
If you don't see the archive, check whether saving stories to an archive is switched on in your settings. Without it, expired stories may not be available to add later.
Ideas that actually work
Highlights work best when each one answers a question a visitor might have. A few examples:
For personal accounts
- Trips — one highlight per holiday, so friends can catch up.
- Pets or Kids — the stuff family always asks to see.
- Recipes, Workouts, Books — whatever you post about regularly.
For creators
- Start here — a short intro to who you are and what you post.
- FAQ — answers to the questions that show up in comments every week.
- Behind the scenes — setups, bloopers, how a video was made.
For businesses
- Menu, Prices or Shop — the practical info people need.
- Reviews — stories where real customers shared your product (with their permission).
- How to order or Delivery — step by step.
- Location — how to find you, parking, opening hours.
Make them easy to scan
People tap highlights quickly and leave just as quickly. A few habits help:
- Short names. One or two words. Long names get cut off.
- Consistent covers. A simple icon or colour for each highlight makes the row look tidy and helps people find what they want.
- Order matters. Put the most useful highlight first. Many accounts put "Start here" or "Shop" at the front.
- Keep them fresh. Remove stories that are out of date — old prices, past events, expired offers. An outdated highlight is worse than none.
- Not too many. Five or six good highlights beat fifteen half-empty ones.
Privacy and highlights
A highlight is visible to anyone who can see your profile. If your account is public, that's everyone. Before pinning a story, it's worth a quick check: is there anything in it you wouldn't want a stranger to see in six months' time? Things like your street, your kid's school or a friend who didn't expect to be on your profile forever.
If a story was shared with close friends only, think twice before adding it to a public highlight. For more on settings, see our privacy settings guide.
Viewing highlights
When you visit someone's profile, their highlights appear under the bio. Tap one to watch the stories inside, swipe or tap to move between them. On TikDop's story viewer, highlights show up as round bubbles in the same place, and current stories show with a coloured ring when there's something new.
The short version
Stories are for today. Highlights are for anyone who visits your profile next week or next month. Pick a few themes that answer what visitors want to know, keep the names short and clear, and tidy them up every so often. It's a small effort that makes your profile feel a lot more finished. If you're new to stories in general, start with TikTok stories explained.