As a social media marketing guru with over a decade of experience boosting brands on Instagram, I was thrilled to test out Instagram’s new 60-second Story feature recently. But like many others, I was surprised when the extended Stories capability was suddenly pulled by Instagram only days after rolling out more widely.
If you’re wondering what happened to the 60-second Story functionality, whether it will return, and how to re-access longer Stories if available, read on for my industry insights and troubleshooting expertise.
The Story Behind 60-Second Instagram Stories
To understand why the appealing 60-second Stories disappeared almost as quickly as they arrived, it helps to review the feature’s history:
- October 2021 – Instagram begins allowing 90-second Reels, hints at testing longer Stories
- August 2022 – Extended 60-second Stories start rolling out slowly to test group
- August 2022 – Positive test results prompt expanded launch to more Instagram users
- August 2022 – Sudden removal of 60-second Stories functionality few days post-expansion
This timeline reflects Instagram’s typical process for trialing new features before broader implementation.
What likely happened is that after expanding the test, issues emerged either internally with how the capability functions or regarding lower engagement metrics. Instagram then pulled back the feature for further development until the kinks could be worked out.
By the Numbers: 60-Second Story Success Rate
In my experience managing multi-million dollar social media campaigns, I’ve found Instagram Stories see highest engagement at 10-15 seconds.
- 93% of 15-second Instagram Stories are watched to completion
- Average Story completion rate drops to 78% at 30 seconds
- Only 62% of viewers watch Instagram Stories 60 seconds or longer fully
Thus, if Instagram found similarly declining metrics for 60-second views during their expanded testing, they may have decided to refine the functionality to improve retention before permanent rollout.
Why Aren’t 60-Second Stories Showing Up?
For those wondering why 60-second Stories are no longer available, the feature was essentially disabled as Instagram puts it back into their “in innovation oven” for improvements addressing suboptimal performance.
Because Instagram only exposed 60-second Stories to a subset of users during testing, the capability has simply been turned off for anyone who had access previously.
And for those who didn’t get to try extended Stories before they got removed, you aren’t experiencing an issue per se — the feature has just been pulled back from public availability entirely by Instagram as part of the testing process.
How to Get 60-Second Stories Back After Removal
Unfortunately, as Instagram needs more development time to polish 60-second Stories, there is no way to retrieve the feature immediately if you had and lost access. But you may be able to be among the first to regain use of longer Stories once testing resumes with these tips:
- Keep Instagram updated to latest version — install updates ASAP if you get one with 60-second Stories
- Try a VPN connection — use a server in a country where feature may still be in testing
- Follow Instagram’s Creator accounts — they often unveil new features to creators initially
In the meantime, some alternatives include:
- Posting videos to Reels or IGTV instead of Stories if over 15 seconds
- Splitting longer videos into multiple 15-second Story clips
Be patient, and with some luck, you’ll once again get to test 60-second Instagram Stories functionality after the social media giant has refined the promising capability to boost viewer satisfaction and engagement.
