Why cant I see pictures on Instagram?

The main concept behind Instagram stories is to let you share your everyday memories. Now if you will look at your gallery on Instagram, you will notice that it is showing only those photos and videos which you have recorded or saved within 24 hours.

On the other hand, you will find that Instagram doesn’t show those media files in its gallery which were older than 24 hours. A lot of people are complaining about this problem, so we did a little research and found some methods that can help you to fix it quickly.

Table of Contents

• Quickly fix Instagram not showing gallery photos in story
• Fix Instagram showing blank images in gallery
  • Upload story from your phone’s gallery
  • Create a copy of images/videos for story

Quickly fix Instagram not showing gallery photos in story

Here are some methods that might fix the blank thumbnails problem in the Instagram gallery while adding a photo or video to your story –

• Check media access permission – When you use Instagram app for the first time, it will ask you to give some permission on your phone such as access to storage, location, camera, microphone and more.

  If Instagram isn’t showing any photos or videos in its gallery, it might be possible that you haven’t given media access to the app on your phone. To check this, simply go to your phone Settings > Apps (or Applications).

  Now open Instagram app and click the Permission option under App settings. Make sure that Storage access is enabled as shown in the below picture.

  

• Clear app data and cache – Sometimes, if Instagram app doesn’t get enough space on your phone’s memory, it will not be able to load images in its gallery. This can also be reasons why you are seeing blank thumbnails while updating your Instagram story.

  Clearing the app data and cache of Instagram app can solve this issue. For that, again go to your phone Settings > Apps. After this, open Instagram app and go to the Storage section. Now tap the “Clear data” and “Clear cache” button. That’s it.

  

• Reinstall Instagram app – Alternatively, you can uninstall and reinstall Instagram app again. Simply, long-press the Instagram icon on app drawer and then click the “Uninstall” button. You will be asked to confirm your action, simply tap the OK button. After this, you can install it again from Google Play Store.
• Update Instagram app – If you are using an older version of Instagram app on your phone, we recommend you to update it with the latest version. Instagram regularly updates its app to fix bugs and improve performance.

Fix Instagram showing blank images in gallery

If none of the above methods works to fix the problem of Instagram showing blank images in gallery, then you can use these 2 workarounds to upload any photo or video to your Instagram story –

Upload story from your phone’s gallery

You can directly add any media file to your Instagram story from your phone’s built-in gallery app. First, open Gallery app on your phone and then open the photo/video you want to upload. Here you will find an option to share the media – tap the Share button.

Now your phone will display a list of apps where you can share it. Find Instagram app and then choose Stories option. This will directly add your photo or video to your Instagram story. You can edit it by adding text, stickers, emojis, and GIFs. Finally, post the story on your account. That’s it.

Create a copy of images/videos for story

We already know that Instagram only shows recent pictures and videos in its gallery which were created within 24 hours. Now if you will create a duplicate copy of any image or video, it will start appearing in your Instagram gallery and you can also add it to your story.

For this task, you need a file manager app. Either you can use your phone’s built-in file manager or download any third-party app from Google Play Store. All you need to do is, go to the storage location where the image or video is located. After that, select the file and then copy-and-paste it to some other location.

Once you have uploaded the photo or video to your story from Instagram gallery, you can delete the duplicate file.

• Also read: How to hide WhatsApp photos & videos from gallery

So these are some methods that can help you to fix the problem of Instagram not showing all gallery photos while adding a story. We hope you find this tutorial helpful. If you know any other better solution or you want to ask something, let us know in the comment section below.