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Check out Instagram’s four most recent Stories and Reels features now.

Instagram is rolling out new features for Stories, Reels, and Notes. On Friday, two of them will be released for the first time: Add Yours Music and Reveal, while the other two will receive significant improvements. Frames, the digital polaroid sticker, is now accessible worldwide, and Instagram’s custom sticker creator Cutouts now allows you to share and repost other people’s public stickers.

The first new feature puts a musical twist on a customer favorite. Add Yours Music allows you to reply to questions and prompts using music rather than simply photographs and words. Instagram collaborated with Dua Lipa to showcase the new feature and promote Lipa’s latest album, Radical Optimism, which was also released Friday. The second new element, Reveals, adds a sense of surprise to your narrative. Using this functionality,

Your narrative will be blurred except for a note you add. Your buddies will need to DM you to see the whole picture.

There are also a few tweaks to Instagram Notes. Notes are now accessible on your profile, directly above your profile photo. In April, Meta confirmed to CNET that a new Notes Prompt function, similar to Add Yours but for Notes, will be available shortly.

On April 30, Instagram revealed fresh adjustments to its recommendation system. The improvements will favor small artists and unique content in what they recommend to you. In addition to assisting tiny artists, this upgrade is intended to deter aggregators or accounts that reshare content that isn’t their own — such as meme accounts that exclusively post

Screenshots from popular tweets and videos. Instagram will use a new badge to identify unique material and will highlight those posts on its Explore and Reels sections. Nothing will change for the meme or aggregator accounts you follow; they will simply appear less frequently on your explore page.

With these improvements, you’ll want your Stories and Reels to truly shine. Here’s how to make the greatest use of each new feature.

Learn how to utilize Instagram’s Add Yours Music feature, now trending.

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Add Yours Music allows you to share any song in response to a request that your friends post on Instagram Stories. For example, add your own music.

The prompt can invite you to share your favorite Taylor Swift song, after which you can tap in, search for, and choose a song from your favorite era. The template, which includes the font, color, and size of the text in the question, will fill in on your tale in the same way that other Add Yours do. Here is how to utilize them.

1. Open Instagram and swipe left to create a new story.
2. Take or select a photo that you want as the backdrop for your design, which anyone may use.
3. Select the grin symbol in the upper menu.
4. Select Add Yours Music.
5. Select Add music.
6. Find and choose the music you wish to publish.
7. Tap Done.
8. resize and modify as needed.

Then share your tale.

Any text, symbols, or other components you add to your photo will become part of the design. In my example, everyone who taps in will share my photo of the field and the words, as well as their song of choice.

To respond to someone else’s prompt, simply tap Add Yours from the widget on their article.

How to Use Instagram’s Reveals.

Reveals is a new feature that conceals your Instagram story, revealing it only when your followers DM you to view the full photo. Here’s how to make one.

1. Open Instagram and swipe left to create a new story.
2. Take or select the photo you want to hide underneath Reveal.
3.Tap the grin symbol in the top menu.
4. Choose Reveal.
5. Type your message; it will be the only thing your followers see.
6. Tap Done.
7. Tap Preview in the bottom left corner to see what your followers will see.
8. Resize and edit as necessary, then add to your tale.

Three images of how Instagram Reveals appear.
Here’s how to create a Reveal. This is what it looked like for me when I was writing the narrative (left and middle) and what my followers would see (right).
Screenshots by Katelyn Chedraoui for CNET.
To view the concealed photo, your followers will only need to hit Message to expose.

How to Use Instagram Stories Cutout Stickers

Take images and post them to your Instagram Reels and Stories. You select the photo, highlight the desired region, and then save and add it to any future story you produce. Here’s how to make an Instagram cutout.

1. Open Instagram and swipe right to start a new story.
2. Choose your backdrop image.
3. Select the sticky notes icon from the top menu.
4. Tap the cutouts.
5. Choose the photo you wish to use. A sticker will be automatically generated. If you don’t like the sticker Instagram creates, hit Select Manually to highlight the desired region of the sticker.
6. Tap Create sticker to complete the Cutout.
7. Include the sticker in your tale or store it for later use.

Next to Cutouts, beneath Stickers.

To remove a personalized sticker, press and hold until the Delete option appears.

How to Use Instagram Story Frames

Use Frames to create a digital Polaroid on your Instagram stories. Here is how.

1. Open Instagram and swipe right to begin creating a new story.
2. Choose your backdrop photo.
3. Select the sticky notes icon from the top menu.
4. Select Frames.
5. Choose the photo you want to include in the Polaroid frame.
6. Add a caption.
7. Tap Done.
8. Move and resize your post as appropriate, then share it.

Sara: