In case you haven’t noticed, everyone is all aglow with creating stories on Instagram. What a great feature! Want to make your stories pop? Learn how to create an Instagram story using two free apps – Unfold and Hype Type. They’re fun to use AND they’re free. Check out my tutorials below to learn how to use them.
The first app I want to talk about is Unfold. Unfold makes it fun, quick, and easy to create beautiful stories for your Instagram feed. The more your stories shine, the more your engagement will increase. You can take control of how your stories will appear by previewing them in story mode before you share. Now you can have gorgeous stories that rival the best of them. And don’t forget, Unfold works great for Snapchat and Facebook as well.
Table of Contents
How To Create An Instagram Story Using Unfold
1. Unfold
Unfold has a very clean and minimalistic feel. It enables you to design stories your followers will enjoy watching. Here’s how to create your first story:
- Open the app.
- Tap the + sign at the bottom of the screen.
- You’ll see a square with “New Story” on it – name your story.
- Push “Create” and you’ll be taken to the edit mode.
- Unfold will request access to your photos – press “OK.”
- Tap the + sign again to add the first page of your story.
- You’ll see the store with a series of CS1 templates – choose one that you like for your particular story.
- The template you chose will appear – click the + sign again to be taken to your camera roll.
- Choose an image or video and press “select” – you can add a single photo, multiple images, and/or videos into the same panel. Get creative by adding a horizontal and a vertical image together, or a filmstrip look by adding three vertical images together. What’s great about Unfold is when you add a video, it’s kept in its original aspect ratio so there’s no need to zoom in or out, no quality is lost and it’s able to be viewed full-frame.
- You can now see your image or video, or both, on your template. Double tap to zoom in or out.
- Add a title and description in the place provided below the image – tap on the T+ sign in the bottom, left-hand corner. This is where you can have fun changing the font, size, and alignment of your text. If you need to, you can delete your story by clicking on the trash can icon on the top of the story.
- Next double tap on the bottom, right side of the screen to change the color of the border.
- Now, save your project by tapping on the download icon located on the top, right-hand side of the screen. Export your pages as single images, which makes it easy to share them on all your social media platforms. If you double tap the bottom, right-hand icon you’ll be able to rearrange your stories in the order you want, share the entire story to Instagram, or even, delete it. There’s one caveat though; if you have video on one of your pages, and you want to save the entire story, only the page with the video on it will be saved.
- You’ll have the option to save the current page or your whole story. Select “page” or “story” and, then, “share to Instagram.
Create Your Own Storybook
It’s that simple to create a great-looking story. Create as many stories as you want using your beautiful images and entertaining videos. Then save them forever with Unfold. After all, their tagline is “Some stories are meant to last forever.” With a five-star rating, this is a terrific app.
If you need more than the 25 templates offered in CS1, you can buy CS2 and CS3 packs of templates for .99, which includes 15 additional minimal and elegant templates, as well as, a dark-mode option. Fiddle around with the free templates first, you can always buy more templates after you’ve become familiar with the app. Unfold is a great way to brand your stories.
How To Create An Instagram Story Using Hype Type
2. Hype Type
Another great branding tool for Instagram is Hype Type. The app lets you add animated captions to your images and videos. Set yourself apart on Instagram with interesting text overlays that make your stories extra special. Using the app is pretty intuitive, and you’ll be a pro in no time. Here are the steps:
- Open the Hype Type App.
- Allow access to your mic and camera roll.
- Select your photo or video from your camera roll.
- Next add your text by double clicking on the screen.
- Choose a font style and color that you love. You’ll see the font style at the top of the screen. Click to change your existing font. You can also add an inlay for the text to rest on and change the alignment.
- Select a filter for your photo or video.
- Continue playing with font styles, filters, and colors until you land on a combination you love.
- Add music if applicable.
- You’ll see a menu at the top of the screen with five different icons that enables further customization.
- Tap the > at the bottom of the screen to choose where to share your photo.
- Your clip will now be saved to your camera roll.
See how easy it is to “hype” your story. And it’s takes no time at all. You can also add a location, @mention, or #hashtag. Drag and drop to anywhere you want on your photo or video. Hype Type is a third-party app that is free. Like any app, you can upgrade – the cost is just $2.99. This will remove the watermark, and unlock the full range of font options. If you’d rather, you can just get the watermark removed or unlock the fonts for $1.99 each.
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Key Points
Unfold and Hype Type are great apps to have in your storytelling toolkit. Make your profile even greater than it already is with these free and fun apps. Have fun “unfolding” and “hyping” your stories. Get Unfold here and grab the Hype Type app from the app store on your mobile phone.
Do you use Unfold or Hype Type? Have you noticed an increase in engagement since using them? Let me know in the comments:)
I have been lacking lately when it comes do social media, but I have to tell you that I do use Unfold. It’s extremely easy to follow and you can create amazing stories with it.
Nowadays, people love stories, they’d rather forget about the Instagram pictures themselves – they just want to see the stories. This can either be beneficial for your business or it can go south if you’re not really familiar with the social media world.
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for reading my article. It can be hard to be consistent on social media sometimes. I get it.
Yes, unfold is easy to use and it’s fun to create stories with it. I agree with you about people loving stories. I think they’re a great addition to the Instagram platform. Knowing how to create engaging and interactive stories is a great business tool to help grow your following.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. It’s great to know that others are using Unfold, as well.