When uploading an image to their Instagram Stories, many users have found that their posts become inexplicably blurry. While this issue may arise for numerous reasons, including the type of phone you have, luckily, the most common causes are also the easiest ones to resolve.
If you are having trouble with blurry Instagram Stories, here are some reasons that might be causing the issue, as well as methods for resolving them:
Table of Contents
An unstable internet connection
When your internet connection is unstable or lagging, Instagram Stories might take a while to load, ultimately showing blurry images, or none at all.
Similarly, a weak internet connection can cause the Stories you upload yourself to appear blurry or pixelated. What’s more, if you record a video through the Instagram app with bad internet connection, the app might automatically reduce the quality of your video, in order to upload it successfully.
The only solution to this issue is to connect to a stronger Wi-Fi signal, or make use of high-speed mobile data, if possible.
Instagram mobile data settings
Instagram has an automatic setting that aims to keep your mobile data usage to a minimum when using the app. This option has been known to lower the quality of your photos and videos significantly, and might be the reason for blurry Stories, if you’re using your mobile data.
To change this setting, simply follow the steps below:
- Open the Instagram app, and tap on your profile icon at the bottom.
- Tap the More option (hamburger menu) in the upper-right corner, and then select Settings.
- From here, choose Account and then go to Cellular Data Use.
- Toggle off the Data Saver option.
This should allow you to upload images and videos to your Stories in a higher quality when using mobile data.
Your phone’s camera settings
The size and the quality of images you upload to Instagram are limited to 1080 pixels. If you have a better camera on your phone that takes more high-quality photos than this, your images will get automatically compressed when uploading, and could end up looking pixelated, blurry or out of focus.
One way you can fix this issue is to adjust your phone’s camera settings, and change the image size to 1080 pixels, which should fit Instagram perfectly.
Another good alternative is to simply use Instagram’s camera when taking photos for your Stories, even if your phone’s camera is superior, as your images will automatically be adjusted to the ideal Instagram format this way.
The Instagram app is outdated
The quality of Instagram Stories could appear to be much worse than it actually is if you’re using an older version of the app. In case apps aren’t automatically updated on your phone, the solution to this issue is as simple as manually updating Instagram.
You can easily do this by opening the App Store or Play Store, depending on your device, and then searching for Instagram. If updates are available, you will see an Update button on the screen next to the Instagram app. Simply tap it to get the latest version of Instagram.
If no updates are available, you might also want to try deleting and then reinstalling Instagram, in an effort to refresh the app.
While there could be a number of reasons why your Instagram Stories appear blurry or pixelated, the causes mentioned above are the most common, as well as the most easily resolved ones. However, if none of these solutions help to solve your problem, you could always report your issues to the Instagram developers, and wait until you receive appropriate feedback.
