Instagram is testing a new layout that will soon see Story highlights housed in their own dedicated tab on your profile grid, much like Reels. According to social media expert Lindsey Gamble on Threads, this update is in the testing phase and may drop as early as Tuesday.

As pointed out by Gamble, this will enable creators to choose which highlights they wish to include on their profile and even remove them from the main grid if need be. This might mean a bit more flexibility and cleaner profiles for the content creators as well as casual users.

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri clarified why they are making this change by answering this potential update in his recent AMA session.  "We're trying to figure out a way to improve the profile and try to get more of the content above the fold and simplify it," Mosseri shared during an Instagram Live. He also acknowledged the challenge of implementing this change, noting that it might not be easy to get right. "This one is contentious," he admitted, "and I might not be able to make it work."

It does make some sense with user behavior on the app. While people post many more stories, they hardly open anyone's highlights. Putting it on its tab, as it is being done with Reels, would also nudge the users to click more on that tab, raising overall engagement for a profile.

Some users may fear that this update will ruin the ephemeral nature of Stories. However, since highlights already exist as a way to save Stories, this would only make them more accessible. Instagram is trying to streamline the user experience by bringing these features into different tabs and perhaps increasing time spent on browsing profiles.

With this feature in the testing stage, Instagram did not make an official comment as to when, or if ever, it is going to be something permanent.