From unlocking a secret font to endless content ideas, if you want to grow on Instagram this year, you need these Instagram features!

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Today, I will be sharing 10 Instagram features you may not have known existed. Stick around until the end where I’ll be giving you a few honorable mentions that didn’t make the top 10. 

Did you know that there’s a secret font on Instagram that you can unlock if you know a secret word? 

There’s also a place hidden in your account settings where Instagram will tell you exactly what’s trending in your industry – so you never run out of viral content ideas again. 

As always, if you’d like to watch instead of read, click the video below. 

10 Instagram Features You Probably Don’t Know About

Hack #1: Creating Opacity in Reels

We’re starting strong with one of my favorite Instagram features. This is already a feature that’s existed in Instagram stories for some time, but now we’ve figured out how to do it in Reels. 

I tested the opacity hack in this reel and you can see that there’s a slight overlay on the video that makes it feel like a background video. This trick is great, especially if you want to put the emphasis on your text. 

How to use this Instagram Hack for a black opacity: 

1. Open and edit your reel
2. Click ‘Filters’
3. Search for: Black Opacity

How to use this Instagram Hack for a white opacity: 

1. Open and edit your reel
2. Go to ‘Text’ and make sure you’re on the furthest left font choice
3. Type a “.” with lots of spaces after it
4. Change the background color to the color you want the opacity to be
5. Make it really (really) big and hide the period off-screen

Watch my tutorial in this video at exactly 2:00 to see an example of this Instagram feauture. 

Hack #2: Using the Wide Angle Lens When Filming on Instagram

Did you know that you could switch to your wide-angle lens when filming on stories or reels (as long as your camera has a wide-angle lens)?

How to use this Instagram Feature: 

1. Open your camera in the Instagram app (make sure you’re using your back camera)
2. Take two fingers and pinch the screen
3. This will automatically change the camera to a wide angle (0.5 zoom)

This is really helpful if you want to be filming vlogs throughout the day, it gives you a lot more space to talk to the camera and film yourself. This also means you’re filming directly in the Instagram app (which of course, they love).

To zoom back in, take your two fingers and zoom back in. Watch my tutorial in this video at 3:05.

Hack #3: Getting Content Ideas From Your Account Settings

Did you know that Instagram gives you viral and trending content ideas for your industry? This is probably one of the most valuable Instagram features that I’m going to share with you today. 

This Instagram feature works best for anyone who has been posting consistently for a long duration of time, within a specific niche or industry. If that’s not you (maybe you’ve started posting in the last 30 days, or you haven’t been consistent on a specific topic), don’t worry because I will give you a second option! 

How to use this Instagram Feature: 

1. Go to your Instagram profile
2. Select ‘Professional Dashboard’
3. Scroll down to ‘Inspiration’ to see Reels, Audios and Account in your niche

This can help you create content ideas, use trending audio, and engage with people in your niche. If you want to grow your account, you can look at similar accounts that Instagram has said are doing well, and literally go engage with their audience. 

They are giving you everything you need to grow your account on a silver platter. 

If you don’t have access to this feature, there is another hack that can help you grow your account. Go back to your ‘Professional Dashboard’ and scroll down to ‘Trending Audio’. This will show you all of the audio that’s trending on Instagram right now. 

You can click on specific audio to see how people are using it and get inspiration to use it for your account and niche. 

Pro tip: If you’re trying to grow on Instagram, look for audios that have less than 10,000 reels using that audio. This will help you jump on an up-and-coming trend, instead of a trend that’s already popped off. 

Hack #4: Use Meta AI for Post Ideas

AI in Instagram… my feelings about it are a mixed bag. Right now, we’re just going to focus on our Instagram features today. You can use it or you can choose not to use it, the choice is yours. 

How to use this Instagram Feature: 

1. Open Instagram and go to your ‘Direct Messages’
2. At the top, it will say ‘Ask Meta AI or Search’
3. From here, ask Meta AI for post ideas
4. Don’t click ‘Search’, instead click on the Meta AI icon on the left-hand side and that will bring up the Meta AI chatbot experience

As with any time you use AI to help with your content, use it as inspiration. Don’t copy and paste because you will end up sounding like a robot. And the more specific you are, and the more specific your prompt is, the better response and feedback you will get. 

You can watch me use this feature in this video at 7:00.

Remember, this tool isn’t going to guarantee you viral content ideas. It’s meant to help you gain inspiration, especially if you’ve been in a rut with your content. You should take these ideas and use them to create quality content for your audience with trending sounds and audio for the best results. 

Feeling stuck for new content ideas? 

If you struggle with content and find it difficult to come up with endless engaging and valuable content ideas, you’re not alone. I want to invite you to come to my free workshop, the 4-Month Content Plan. And yes, this is free! 

It’s an hour-long workshop that teaches you how to come up with 4 months of content. It’s time to get off the hamster wheel of trying to come up with content ideas every day. Instead, have 4 months of content ready to go so that you can stay consistent and actually grow on the platform of your choice. 

You can join the free workshop here. 

Hack #5: Use Instagram Templates

I know you’re probably thinking, “Millie, this isn’t a hack… we already know how to use Instagram templates” but don’t worry – there’s a twist! And this is going to help make content creation so fast and easy. 

How to use this Instagram Feature: 

1. Open Instagram and go to the ‘Reels’ tab
2. Click on the camera icon on the top right
3. At the bottom, click on the option for ‘Templates’ (this will give you recommended templates for you to use and templates that are currently trending)
4. Click on the template that you want to use
5. Click ‘Add Media’
6. Switch to ‘All Albums’
7. Click on your ‘B-Roll Folder’ 

Yes, this hack is actually about having a B-roll folder to use within these templates. This is going to save you so much time – forget scrolling and losing your place while looking for the content you want to use. Nope, no more. Now you have the content at your fingertips. 

What is B-roll?

This is the ‘behind-the-scenes’ content. It’s short snippets of content where you’re working on your laptop, enjoying a coffee, setting up your camera, etc. You can do this for specific topics, trips you’ve been on, or day-in-the-life snippets. 

Hack #6: Quick & Easy Reels Using Random Camera Roll Videos

Similar to the hack above, this Instagram hack is going to help you create content faster. 

How to use this Instagram Feature: 

1. Open Instagram and go to the ‘Reels’ tab
2. Click on the camera icon on the top right
3. Click on your album in the bottom left
4. At the top, it will say ‘Made for You’ 

This is a feature where Instagram AI will create a reel for you, based on the videos that you have in your camera roll. Remember that these are going to be hit or miss and you might have to scroll through several before you find one that you love. 

Hack #7: Hands-Free Recording

Of course, when you’re creating a reel you can use the ‘timer’ option. This gives you a countdown and then lets you start recording your reel without having to press ‘Record’. However, you can also use their ‘Gesture Control’ option. This Instagram feature is only available in reels (so you can’t use it in stories). 

How to use this Instagram Feature: 

1. Open Instagram and go to the ‘Reels’ tab
2. Click on the camera icon on the top right
3. You’ll see options on the left-hand side, click the arrow to see more
4. Click on ‘Gesture Control’ 
5. Now you’ll use your hand to start and stop the video (so it’s important that you don’t talk with your hands during the video)

The nice thing about this feature is that you can lift your hand naturally to stop the video. If you’re on stories and you want to do something similar, open your camera for stories and click on the option on the left-hand side for ‘Hands-Free’. Click and hold the recording button and it will open a timer for you to record. 

If you’d like to see an example of this Instagram feature, watch this video at 12:57. 

Hack #8: An Aesthetic Instagram Story Idea

I don’t know if this is considered a hack… but a top question that I get is, “Millie, how can I make my stories more aesthetic or more eye-catching?” And so this Instagram hack is how I would share my stories more aesthetically. 

How to use this Instagram Feature: 

1. Open your camera on Instagram to create a story
2. Click on the ‘Layout’ option
3. Choose the ‘6-Grid’ option
4. Click on the album in the bottom left-hand corner to upload photos
5. Choose the 6 photos that you’d like to use
6. Apply an effect or filter to make the photos look cohesive (choose the 3 dots in the top right corner)
7. Add text and use the draw effect to bring more personality to your story

If you want to watch me create an aesthetically pleasing story, watch this video at 14:30.

Hack #9: Unlock the Secret Font on Instagram

While we’re in our stories, I want to show you how to unlock the secret font that is hidden in Instagram. You can use this font for stories and reels.

How to use this Instagram Feature:

1. Open your camera in stories
2. Click on the text and choose the ‘Meme’ font
3. Type in the secret word: Papyrus
4. You can then backspace and delete the word Papyrus and type the words you’d like to use instead.

Hack #10: Changing Reels Covers After Uploading

Ready for the last of our Instagram features! Sometimes when you upload a reel, Instagram will glitch, and the reel cover will disappear or you might realize after uploading that you don’t love the way the reel cover looks on your feed. Luckily, there’s a way to change the cover after publishing! 

How to use this Instagram Feature:

1. Open the reel that you want to edit
2. Select the 3 Dots
3. Click on ‘Edit’
4. From here, select ‘Cover’
5. Then you’ll be able to drag and drop the new cover that you wanted for this reel. You can also upload something from your camera roll

The only annoying thing (that I wish they would update) is that you can’t change the positioning of the ‘square’ or in other words, the part that’s going to show in your profile feed. 

If you don’t see the option to ‘Edit’ the reel, you might see the option to ‘Manage’ the reel instead. That will get you to the same place to edit that reel cover. 

Instagram Feature Honorable Mentions

Honorable Mention #1: Adding Music to Your Profile

This isn’t really a hack, it’s just a new feature that Instagram released that you might not know about yet. I didn’t include this because I don’t have access to this feature yet. But if you do have access to it, this is how you can use this Instagram feature. 

How to use this Instagram Feature:

1. Go to your profile
2. Select ‘Edit Profile’
3. Scroll down and search for, ‘Add Music to Profile’
4. Choose any song from Instagram’s music library

Honorable Mention #2: Turning Instagram Highlights into Reels

I didn’t include this as one of my main hacks because on my profile – none of my highlights would make good reels. However, if you have a highlight that would make a good reel, this is how you can use this Instagram feature.

How to use this Instagram Feature:

1. Go to your profile
2. Click and hold on the highlight that you want to make a reel
3. This will open your settings and within those settings, you will see ‘Covert to Reel’
4. Continue to edit from there

Honorable Mention #3: Turning Live Photos into Boomerangs

Again, I wasn’t going to mention this one because people often think that boomerangs are old and outdated. However, if you already take live photos on your phone – this is a way that you can turn those photos into boomerangs on Instagram. 

How to use this Instagram Feature:

1. Open Instagram
2. Head to your ‘Stories’ 
3. Open the ‘live’ image that you want to use
4. Click and hold on the image
5. It will automatically convert that image to a boomerang

And there you have my 10 Instagram Features that you probably didn’t know existed. I hope that you’ve learned at least one new thing today – and if you have, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel where I share free videos with you every week. 

Which of these Instagram Features will you use first?

Now, if you want to know 10 YouTube Shorts hacks, be sure to watch this video. Or if you want to learn even more Instagram Features, read this!