How to fix Instagram Stories getting bigger So, you took the perfect picture and crafted your story carefully. You hit the publish button, but what you get is an enlarged or distorted image that ruins all your efforts.
If this sounds familiar, you may also be affected by the Instagram zoom bug that is making users lose their nerve all over the world. Read on to find out why this is happening and how to fix this problem at once.
How to fix Instagram Stories zoom
While Instagram has improved the flexibility of photo and video ratios since its inception days, things still aren’t perfect. Like any other application, this platform is also prone to bugs and errors that can affect the user experience. Automatically resizing your story after you publish is just one example. The worst thing is that you may not realize that your post has been corrupted until later, when your followers have already seen it.
Fortunately, errors like these can often be fixed simply by clearing the cache or updating your app. You can also use a few tricks when sawing to get just the right size and proportion.
Clear Cache
You can try to clear your cache whenever you encounter a bug or Instagram starts to lag. Removing the cache will not delete anything essential, and your accounts will be safe. It will only remove nonessential files that may be causing temporary problems. An added advantage is that this will also free up space on your phone at the cost of slightly longer loading times to refill the cache.
Follow the steps below to clear Instagram cache on your Android device:
- Go to your settings and select “Applications”.
- Open your apps list and search for Instagram.
- Tap “Storage” on the app screen.
- Select Clear Cache or Clear Data under Cache.
Specific instructions may vary by Android version or device. Check if the issue is still there after clearing the cache.
It’s worth noting that the only option to clear the cache on iOS is to reinstall the app, which we’ll cover below.
Update your app
When you encounter an error, consider whether the developers have already addressed the problem. You may be able to fix the error simply by updating your application. Go to the App Store or Google Play Store and search for Instagram to see if there is any update available. If yes, then downloading the update will probably fix the bugs like zooming issue.
Delete and reinstall Instagram
Reinstalling the app will result in a similar result of clearing its cache. If clearing local files doesn’t work or you have an iOS device, deleting and reinstalling the app is the way to go.
To reinstall Instagram on your iPhone, follow these steps:
- Open the Settings app and select “General”.
- Click on “iPhone Storage” and then find Instagram in the list.
- Delete the application.
- Head over to the App Store and re-download Instagram.
You can achieve the same result by tapping and holding the app icon from the main menu and selecting the “Delete” option from the popup menu.
Reinstalling your app on your Android device will include the following steps:
- Open Android Settings.
- Go to “Applications” and open your list of applications.
- Find and click on Instagram.
- Click on “Remove”.
- After that, open the Google Play Store and download it Instagram repeatedly.
Spread your story in a different way
You don’t have to stop using Instagram Stories even if none of the above solutions did the trick. Play in your story to find a way to get around the problem of automatic zooming in/out. Instead of taking a photo or importing a photo by swiping up in the camera, do the following:
- Open Instagram.
- Tap the ‘+’ icon in the upper right corner and select ‘Story’ or swipe right on your feed.
- Select “Create” from the camera tools marked with “Aa”.
- Click the sticker button at the top.
- Scroll down to find two circular buttons. You can use these to add more images to your story.
- Tap the camera icon to take a photo or the cards marked with a “+” sign to open a photo.
- Resize the image as you wish and share it in your story.
How to make Instagram Stories smaller when posting
Unwanted magnification is not always a glitch. Instagram may also automatically resize photos and videos to fill the screen. Fortunately, you can minify your content before publishing – here’s how.
Easily resize photos and videos
Most phone cameras take photos in a 3:4 ratio by default. To make these photos fit into Instagram’s 16:9 ratio, the sides will be cut out. If you want to keep the whole image, just tap on the screen after importing the image. The application will automatically create a colored border to fill the remaining space. You can also minify videos in the same way.
Zoom in while shooting
Instagram’s built-in camera requires you to hit the record button to shoot. Your hand is already occupied, how do you zoom in and out? There are two ways to zoom in and out while recording on Instagram:
- Drag in normal mode – While holding the record button in normal mode, drag your finger up to zoom in, and drag it down to zoom out.
- Pinch in hands-free mode – Instagram also has a hands-free recording mode. You can press the screen to enlarge this mode. Swiping your finger up and down on the record button as in normal mode will also allow you to zoom in.
How to minify Instagram posts
Gone are the days of the square photos that Instagram was famous for in the past. Now, you can publish photos and videos in different dimensions by simply making them smaller.
pinch to zoom
To make photo posts smaller, you can simply join the photo while importing it.
- Tap the ‘+’ icon on your main feed and select ‘Publish’.
- Click on the photo you want to post.
- Click on the image to make it smaller.
Press the minimize button
When you post a video, you will notice that the disc is not playing. To minimize a video post, you’ll need to hit a button instead:
- Press the “+” and “post” to your main feed.
- Select the video you want to post.
- To zoom in on the video, use the scale button in the lower left corner of the image or tap the screen.
Use a third party app
If the dimensions of the photo or video do not fit Instagram standards, some parts may be cut off though as small as possible. In this case, you can use a separate photo or video editing app to achieve the proper ratio for Instagram. Add borders to your photo or video to keep the parts that don’t fit the desired Instagram dimensions.
How to Minimize Instagram Reels
Instagram Reels are very popular, so you don’t want to miss them. Here are your reel miniaturization options.
Scale your video
Unfortunately, you can’t minify Reels like regular story videos. If you are importing a video from your gallery, your only option is to enlarge it by holding the screen or pressing the Scale button. Scaling the video to your screen will enlarge it to fill the entire screen. If your video is longer than the standard Reel size, you can select the part to be cut by dragging the video with two fingers.
Edit your video in the app
If you don’t want to cut any part of your non-standard dimension, you will need to use a third party app. Add a border to your video to make it 16:9, and it will fit the screen without any problem.
keep your distance
Inadvertently zoomed Instagram Stories can be embarrassing. Troubleshoot the problem with the solutions above and make sure your followers don’t see any failed attempts. Learn the ropes of zooming in on Instagram and make sure you never cut out your posts again.
Which of the following methods fixed your Instagram zooming problem? Did you learn any new zoom tricks along the way? Let us know in the comments below.
