Instagram Stories Can Now Be Searched Using Location or Hashtag

Another day and there's another update arriving on the popular photo-sharing app Instagram. Starting Tuesday, Instagram will start placing its Stories in the Explore tab. Apart from this, the Stories can be discovered by their location or their hashtag only if they were posted by public accounts. Much like Instagram's recent features, this feature is again an imitation of the rival Snapchat's searchable Stories. While the location Stories search feature is available in Instagram version 10.22 on both Android and iOS, the hashtag Stories search feature will be rolled out over the next few weeks.

The new discoverable Instagram Stories will start appearing in rings on the top of the Explore tab happening around you, along with other posts and videos. As we mentioned, the Instagram Stories can be filtered using two ways - by location and by hashtag. The location Stories will by users who have used location stickers on their Stories. Moreover, you can search for any geographical location and related Stories rings will start showing at the top of location page.

Talking about the hashtag-based Stories, Instagram wants you to browse a larger base of Stories that have a particular hashtag in them. Searching for a certain hashtag will result related Stories ring at the top along with other related posts downwards. "From discovering new parts of your own city to jogging alongside the #fromwhereirun community all around the world, location and hashtag stories help you share these experiences as they unfold," says the Facebook-owned company in a blog post. As we said, hashtag Stories will be released over "the coming weeks."

While posting your Instagram Stories, if you happen to put a location sticker or a hashtag, it will automatically start appearing for that location and hashtag search. However, if you do not want your story to appear in the Explore tab, then you can tap the 'X' on your stories viewer list and it will stop showing for the public.