A grid puzzle (also called a puzzle feed or a split grid) is one image cut into tiles. Each tile is posted separately, and together they form the picture on your profile. Since early 2025 the profile grid has used 3:4 portrait thumbnails instead of squares. Puzzles cut into squares no longer meet at the edges, and that's why so many now look broken.
The size you need
The tile shape decides everything else:
| Puzzle | Tiles | Each tile | Original image should be at least |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 × 1 (one row) | 3 | 1080 × 1440 | 3240 × 1440 |
| 3 × 2 | 6 | 1080 × 1440 | 3240 × 2880 |
| 3 × 3 | 9 | 1080 × 1440 | 3240 × 4320 |
| 3 × 4 | 12 | 1080 × 1440 | 3240 × 5760 |
A 3 × 3 puzzle of 3:4 tiles is itself a 3:4 image, so a portrait photo needs almost no cropping.
Squares vs 3:4: what goes wrong
The grid shows each post as a 3:4 crop from its center. A square tile is wider than 3:4, so the grid shaves 135 px off both sides of every tile. Each column then loses its outer quarter, and the picture breaks into nine slightly mismatched pieces with chunks missing at every vertical seam.
Cutting the tiles at 3:4 to start with means the grid shows the whole tile, and edges meet edges.
Posting order (it's backwards)
Your newest post appears in the top-left. So post the tiles in reverse:
- Post the bottom-right tile first.
- Work leftwards along the bottom row, then up to the next row.
- The top-left tile goes up last.
For a 3 × 3, that's tiles 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, in reading order. The Grid Splitter names the files post-1 to post-9 in exactly this order, so you just post them in file-name order.
Things that shift your puzzle
- Pinned posts. Up to three pinned posts sit at the start of your grid and push everything else along. Unpin them before checking the puzzle, or design around them.
- Every new post afterwards. A single new post shifts the whole puzzle one slot and breaks every row. Post in multiples of three to keep it intact: one new row at a time.
- Gutters. Instagram draws thin white lines between thumbnails, so a puzzle is never perfectly continuous. Keep eyes, faces, and small text away from tile edges.
- Reels in the grid. A Reel's grid thumbnail is also a 3:4 crop of its cover. Reels can be part of a puzzle if their cover frame is one of the tiles.
A posting checklist
- Export the tiles at 3:4 (1080 × 1440).
- Unpin any pinned posts, temporarily.
- Post
post-1and check it on your profile. Does the crop match the preview? - Post the rest in order. Posting them in one session avoids followers seeing a half-finished picture for days.
- Re-pin anything you unpinned. Pins push the puzzle along, so you may prefer to leave them off.