How to Make Custom Stickers for Instagram Stories on iPhone
Instagram's sticker tray has polls, music, GIFs, and countdowns, but the stickers that make a story look like yours are the ones nobody else has: your dog mid-sneeze, a cartoon version of you holding a coffee, a little mascot that turns up every Friday. On iPhone there are three ways to make them. Two are built in, one to iOS and one to Instagram, and both cut a real photo out of its background. The third draws a new, illustrated sticker from a photo or a sentence. Here is how each one works, when to use which, and how to make custom stickers look like part of the story instead of pasted on top.
The short version
- Fastest, from a real photo: in Photos, touch and hold the subject, tap Copy, then paste it into your story. It lands as a sticker you can move and resize.
- Inside Instagram: sticker tray, Cutouts, pick a photo or a video. The cutout is saved in your tray for next time, and a video cutout moves.
- Illustrated, not cut out: make the sticker in Pixmoji from a selfie, a pet photo, or a few words, tap copy, and paste it into the story. Packs also have Share to Instagram Stories.
- Placement: keep stickers away from the very top and bottom of the story, where your profile row and the reply bar sit.
Method 1: Copy a subject from Photos
Since iOS 16, the iPhone can lift the subject of a photo off its background. It is the quickest route to a sticker of a real person, pet, or object.
- Open the photo in Photos. Pick one with a clear subject and a plain background.
- Touch and hold the subject until a glowing outline appears, let go, and tap Copy.
- Open Instagram and start a story with any background photo or color.
- Tap the Aa text tool, touch and hold, and tap Paste. The cutout drops onto the story as a sticker. Recent versions of Instagram may also offer the copied image as a sticker on their own.
- Pinch to resize, twist to rotate, and drag it into place.
On iOS 17 and later, the same menu has Add Sticker, which saves the cutout to your sticker drawer for Messages and the keyboard; how to turn a photo into a sticker covers that side. A cutout is the real photo with the background removed, so it looks like collage: great for pets and objects, less flattering on faces taken in poor light.
Method 2: Instagram's Cutouts
Instagram has its own cutout sticker maker, and its advantage is memory: every cutout is saved in your sticker tray, ready for the next story.
- Start a story and tap the sticker icon at the top.
- Tap Cutouts, the scissors icon, and choose a photo or video with a clear subject from your camera roll.
- Instagram cuts the subject out. If it missed an ear or a paw, adjust the selection, then save the sticker.
- The cutout goes on the story and stays in your tray for reuse.
A cutout from a video becomes a moving sticker, which neither of the other methods here makes. Instagram can also make cutouts from eligible photos shared by public accounts, so a photo on a public profile can become someone else's sticker. If that matters to you, check what Instagram's settings let others reuse from your posts.
Method 3: Illustrated stickers with Pixmoji
Both cutout methods keep the photo as it is. When you want a drawn look, such as a cartoon version of yourself, your cat as a tiny chef, or a sticker of something you only have in your head, Pixmoji makes it on any iPhone with iOS 15 or later.
- Open Pixmoji and tap the plus button. Choose Image to Emoji for a selfie or a pet photo, or Text to Emoji to describe it, for example "sleepy cat holding a coffee cup, cute style".
- Generate. If it is not quite right, change a word and generate again. The style is part of your description; there is no separate style menu to hunt through.
- On the result screen, tap the copy button under the sticker, or the save button to keep it in Photos.
- In your Instagram story, paste it the same way as in Method 1. The background is transparent, so only the sticker shows.
For a set you will use again and again, such as a mascot for your weekly Q&A or reactions to put next to poll stickers, add them to a pack. The pack screen has Share to Instagram Stories, next to Install Pack for WhatsApp. More on the two modes is in how to make an emoji of yourself and the pet sticker pack guide.
Which method for which story
| You want | Best method | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A real photo of your pet, your food, or a friend | Copy from Photos, or Cutouts | Fastest, keeps the real look |
| The same sticker in many stories | Cutouts, or a Pixmoji pack | Saved and ready to reuse |
| A moving sticker | Cutouts from a video | The only method here that animates |
| A cartoon of yourself or your pet | Pixmoji, Image to Emoji | Illustrated look that stays consistent across stories |
| Something you have no photo of | Pixmoji, Text to Emoji | Made from a description |
Make them look good on a story
- Mind the edges. The top of a story carries your profile picture and name, and the bottom the reply bar. Keep stickers in the middle band where nothing covers them.
- One main sticker per frame. One big sticker and some empty space reads better than six small ones fighting for attention.
- Watch the contrast. A dark sticker on a dark photo disappears. Change the background, or make a lighter version of the sticker.
- Make it a series. The same mascot on every Friday story, or the same reaction set next to your question stickers, turns into a format people recognize.
- Highlight covers. Put an illustrated sticker on a plain color story, save the frame to your camera roll, and use it as a Highlight cover. A set in one style makes a whole profile look designed.
Planning stickers for a whole group of friends rather than your own stories? How to make a sticker pack for your group chat walks through that.
Quick answers
How do I make my own sticker for an Instagram story?
Copy a subject from a photo in the Photos app and paste it into the story, use Cutouts in Instagram's sticker tray, or make an illustrated sticker in an app like Pixmoji and paste it in. All three give a sticker with a transparent background that you can move and resize.
Can I use my iPhone stickers on Instagram?
Yes, as images. Copy the subject from Photos, or copy the sticker in Pixmoji, then paste it into the story editor. The sticker drawer itself is built for Messages and the keyboard, so copying is the reliable route to Instagram.
How do I make a cutout sticker on Instagram?
Start a story, tap the sticker icon, tap Cutouts, and choose a photo or video with a clear subject. Instagram removes the background, you adjust the selection if needed, and the sticker is saved in your tray.
Why won't my sticker paste into my Instagram story?
Make sure you copied the image itself and not a link or a file. Paste inside the Aa text tool by touching and holding, and update Instagram if the Paste option does not appear.
Can I make animated stickers for Instagram Stories?
Yes, with Cutouts from a video in your camera roll. Subjects copied from Photos and stickers made in Pixmoji are still images.
Do custom stickers keep a transparent background on Instagram?
Yes. Cutouts and transparent sticker images paste onto the story without a box around them, so only the subject shows.
Your story, your stickers
Copy a subject for a quick real-photo sticker, use Cutouts for moving ones and a reusable tray, and make an illustrated set when you want a look that is only yours. Download Pixmoji, free to download, and turn a selfie, a pet, or a sentence into stickers for your stories.