A bio is an essential part of your Instagram profile. Despite the 150 character limit, it is one of three things other Instagram users look at before following you. In addition to your username, your most recent posts and stories are also important.
In order to increase your bio’s visual appeal and make it “pop,” center or reposition the text. When you center/reposition the text, you insert spaces between each line so that your bio looks centered, indented, or stylish on the screen.
Programs like Microsoft Word have automatic centering features that allow you to select a block of text and hit a button, and the text is instantly centered. Unfortunately, Instagram does not offer this feature. Centering your bio, however, is quite straightforward, and in this article, you’ll learn how to do it.
Table of Contents
Instagram Bio Character Limit
In the lower right-hand corner of the text box on an iPhone or Android device, you can see the number of characters you have typed. In the count, you can see how many characters are left in your 150-character allowance.
There does not appear to be a character count feature in the PC version.
In addition to nonbonding spaces, spaces count against the character limit.
Using spaces to format your text counts against the 150-character limit.
Use Nonbinding Spaces to Position or Center Your Bio
Add spaces to the left-hand side of each row of text in the Instagram Bio text box that you want to center or position differently. On most phones, adding about nine spaces to the left of each row will place your text near the center of the screen if your text strings are relatively short. If your text strings are longer or shorter, you’ll need to add more or less space. You’ll run into one problem, though. Every line in your bio must be left-justified on Instagram. Therefore, every line begins with the first visible character, not with a space.
Nonbinding spaces are the only way to get your Instagram Bio lines to appear in the center. You don’t need to get into technical details, but these gaps are coded differently in HTML and allow you to bypass Instagram’s line glitch.
Whitespace and two-part text, such as “liquid-based” and “T & T Disks,” for example, cannot be separated into the current row and next row with nonbinding spaces, but they are still used as spacers.
You cannot create nonbinding spaces for copy/paste functionality in your Instagram Bio with a text app, note-taker, or document creator. In MS Word and Google Docs, you can insert nonbinding/nonbreaking spaces, but it won’t work in your Bio unless you copy it from HTML, which uses “ ” (without the quotes). To see “ ” characters, don’t view source code or use the “Inspect element” tool. Ironically, they often appear as blank spaces.
Anyway, editing your Instagram bio is easy. Using a PC makes it easier to copy/paste nonbreaking spaces. Despite this, it can also be done on Android and iPhone since we have included nonbreaking spaces in the steps below. Any way you want, you can position your bio, including centering it, with a few clicks or taps. You can do it this way.
Center/Position Your Instagram Bio in Windows
- Go to the Instagram Login page in your browser. The website will go directly to your account if you are already logged in. In any other case, enter your login credentials.
- In the top-right corner, click on the “Profile” icon.
- From the list, select “Profile”.
- You can edit your profile by clicking “Edit Profile.”
- In between the following brackets, copy the spaces only on this line (as many as you need).
- Paste the copied nonbinding/nonbreaking spaces into the “Bio” box, then type your bio.
- Click “Submit” at the bottom of the page.
- Visit your Instagram profile page to see the results. You may need to try several times before you achieve your desired look.
Center/Reposition Your Instagram Bio in Android and iOS/iPhone
- Download the Instagram app for Android or the Instagram app for iOS.
- In the bottom-right corner, click on the “Profile” icon.
- Click on “Edit Profile.”
- Select “Bio” from the menu.
- A screen appears where you can edit your bio.
- You should only copy the spaces between the following brackets on this line (as many as you need).
- To center or reposition your Bio, paste the nonbinding spaces before your text. You can save your changes by tapping the “blue checkmark” in the upper-right section.
- Your Instagram Profile Bio rows should now appear in the new positions.
Other Types of Instagram Bio Effects
Centering isn’t the only way to give your bio some visual appeal. Your bio can be staggered, for example, by increasing the indent with each line.
The second example tied less fluidly because the last line was too short. In addition, the contact information isn’t highlighted like it would be in a centered bio.
You should consider what your followers and potential followers will take away from your bio, how it reads, and what information you want to emphasize.
When Not to Center a Bio
Your profile might be better served without a centered bio, which has some downsides, such as:
- There is not enough space for characters. There is a 150 character limit for bios, and spaces count towards that limit.
- Desktop view is poor. On desktop, centered bios don’t appear as effective. Most people will check Instagram on their phones, of course.
- A centered bio breaks up the text. You might not need to worry about this if your bio consists of short statements. In addition, it can be useful for highlighting disparate elements, such as email addresses. If you interrupt the flow of your bio and force it onto separate lines, it might look awkward and be difficult to read.
It is definitely possible to make your Instagram profile stand out by centering or staggering your bio. Whether you want to show off your contact information or make your bio more appealing, centering and staggering text on Instagram is surprisingly simple.