How To: Steal Your Friends' Cool Instagram Stories Effects

When watching stories in your Instagram feed, there's a high probability that you'll come across an AR filter that you'll want to try out for yourself. A quick browse and search in the Effect Gallery will bring up nothing in most cases. But all of that unproductive work isn't necessary because there's a faster and simpler way to get the AR effect in Instagram Stories, and it works all of the time.

When you see an augmented reality face or screen effect in any user's story, its name, as well as the effect's maker, shows up with Instagram Effect's triple-star symbol in the top left under the story creator's name. It's the same place you'll see song information, play on Spotify, content made with Create Mode, Boomerang, etc., sponsored ads, and other descriptions for non-effects.

Tap the effect's title, and you'll see a menu pop up. To play with the effect right away, select "Try it," which opens the Story camera with the filter preloaded. To test it out later, hit "Save Effect," which saves the filter to your Effects carousel.

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If you try out the filter immediately and decide you do want to save it, that's easy too. Just tap the chevron next to the filter's name at the bottom, then select "Save Effect" on the pop-up.