Best Symbols & Emojis for Instagram Highlight Covers and Names
Curated symbols for every highlight category. Click any symbol to copy it instantly.
Instagram story highlights are a key part of your profile's visual identity. The right symbols and emojis in your highlight names can transform a cluttered profile into something clean, cohesive, and aesthetically pleasing. Whether you prefer minimalist symbols, cute emojis, or decorative characters, this guide has you covered.
For more Instagram bio styling, check out our Instagram Bio Symbols page and Instagram Fonts generator.
How to Change Your Highlight Names
- Open your Instagram profile and tap on a story highlight
- Tap More (three dots) in the bottom right corner
- Select Edit Highlight
- Tap on the current name to edit it
- Delete the existing text and paste your chosen symbol
- Tap Done to save
Travel & Adventure
Perfect for holiday photos, city guides, and travel diaries.
Food & Drink
For recipes, restaurant reviews, and food photography highlights.
Fitness & Health
Ideal for workout routines, progress photos, and wellness content.
Fashion & Beauty
For outfit inspiration, beauty tutorials, and shopping hauls.
Music & Entertainment
For playlists, concert highlights, and entertainment recommendations.
Minimal & Aesthetic
Clean, simple symbols for a minimalist profile aesthetic. These look elegant at small sizes.
General Purpose
Versatile symbols that work for various highlight categories.
Highlight Name Ideas with Symbols
Here are some creative combinations of symbols and text for your highlight names:
Tips for Choosing Highlight Symbols
- Stick to one style. Choose either emojis or minimal symbols for all your highlights — mixing styles can look inconsistent. A cohesive set creates a more polished profile.
- Consider your colour scheme. If you use custom highlight covers with a specific colour palette, choose symbols that complement those colours. Heart emojis come in many colours: ❤ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜 🖤 🤍 🤎.
- Test at small sizes. Highlight names appear very small on mobile. Simple symbols and single emojis are more readable than complex combinations.
- Use invisible characters for spacing. Copy an invisible character to add space before or after a symbol, centering it visually in the highlight name.
- Keep it short. Instagram truncates long highlight names. One symbol or a symbol plus one short word is ideal.
Creating Custom Highlight Covers
While symbols work great for highlight names, many users also create custom cover images for their highlights. Here are some approaches:
- Solid colour backgrounds with icons: Use a design tool like Canva to create circular images in your brand colours with a simple icon or symbol in the centre.
- Consistent photo style: Choose one photo from each highlight that represents the category, and apply the same filter to all covers.
- Text-based covers: Use short words or abbreviations in a consistent font and colour scheme.
- Symbol-only: Simply use a large emoji or symbol as the first story in each highlight — it becomes the cover automatically.
For more ways to make your Instagram profile stand out, explore our Instagram Bio Symbols collection, Instagram Fonts generator, and Aesthetic Bio Symbols page.