Quick Answers
There are a few common reasons why your Facebook story may not be showing up on Messenger:
- Your story privacy settings – If you’ve set your story to be visible to only some friends, it won’t be seen by others on Messenger.
- Messenger settings – You may have turned off seeing friends’ stories in Messenger settings.
- Connection issues – Sometimes there are temporary glitches with Facebook that prevent stories from loading.
- Story expired – Stories older than 24 hours automatically expire and won’t show up.
Check your story and Messenger settings to troubleshoot the issue. If the problem persists, it’s likely a technical issue that should resolve on its own.
Story Privacy Settings
The most common reason a Facebook story doesn’t show up on Messenger is because of your story privacy settings. When you post a story, you can choose who is able to view it – friends, family, friends except acquaintances, specific friends, or only you.
If you’ve limited the audience, your story will only be visible to those people and won’t show up for anyone else on Messenger. For example, if you share a story with only your close friends list, other friends won’t see it when they open Messenger.
To check your story’s privacy setting:
- Go to your profile on Facebook
- Click on Stories Archive at the top
- Find the story and click on it
- You’ll see the audience listed at the bottom – click Edit
- This will show you the privacy setting you’ve selected
Make sure the story is set to public or friends to have it be viewable by all your connections on Messenger. You can change the privacy setting here if needed.
Story Privacy Recommendations
Here are some recommendations around story privacy settings:
- Public – Anyone can see it, including on Messenger
- Friends – Your friends list can see it, including on Messenger
- Friends except – Exclude specific friends
- Specific friends – Only people you select can view it
- Only me – Keeps it private and not viewable anywhere
In most cases, public or friends is best if you want your story to reach all your Messenger contacts. Use the other options if you need to limit it for privacy or personal reasons.
Messenger Settings
Another possibility is that you have your Messenger settings configured to not show friends’ stories. Messenger allows you to disable viewing stories from connections if desired.
To check your Messenger settings:
- Open Messenger
- Tap your profile photo
- Go to Preferences
- Look for Settings & Privacy > Stories
Here you’ll see options to control viewing stories:
- See Stories from Friends – Turn this on to see friends’ stories
- Suggested For You – Show stories Messenger recommends
- Hide Stories Seen – Don’t reshown stories you’ve already viewed
Make sure “See Stories from Friends” is enabled. If it was turned off, that prevents your connections’ stories from loading in Messenger. Turn this setting on and your friends’ latest stories should start appearing again.
Messenger Story Settings
Some other Messenger story settings to be aware of:
- You can mute friends’ stories individually
- Block settings also prevent seeing someone’s stories
- You can report inappropriate stories
- Stories auto-delete after 24 hours
Check these areas if you’re having issues with a specific friend’s story not showing up in Messenger.
Connection Issues
There are times when technical issues with Facebook result in stories not loading properly on Messenger. Problems like server outages, bugs, or app glitches can temporarily disrupt the story experience.
If your story privacy settings and Messenger configurations are correct, connection issues may be preventing it from being viewable. Some signs this could be happening:
- Can’t see any friends’ latest stories
- Stories loading very slowly
- Chats and feeds not refreshing
- Error messages appear about connectivity
Often these problems will resolve on their own as Facebook engineers work to fix bugs and restore stability. Trying the following may help:
- Force quit and relaunch the Messenger app
- Restart your phone
- Check for app updates
- Disable and re-enable WiFi/cellular data
- Switch from WiFi to cellular data or vice versa
This refreshes the connection and forces Messenger to reload the latest data from Facebook’s servers. If the issues persist more than a few hours, it’s likely a broader outage affecting many users.
Expired Stories
Remember that Facebook stories automatically delete after 24 hours. If your story is more than a day old, it will have expired and gotten removed, no longer viewable on Messenger.
Stories are meant to be ephemeral, temporary shares that don’t stick around forever. Even if your privacy settings allow it to be seen, an older story will eventually disappear.
The only way to keep stories longer is to add them to your highlights. Highlighted stories will remain visible in your profile indefinitely.
If you notice your story disappeared from Messenger after a day or so, it simply reached the 24 hour expiry period. Post a fresh story if you want it to show up again for your friends.
Troubleshooting Tips
Here are some troubleshooting tips if your Facebook story won’t load on Messenger:
- Check your story privacy setting
- Confirm Messenger settings allow seeing friends’ stories
- Try reloading Messenger to refresh connectivity
- Restart your device to troubleshoot bugs
- Update to the latest Facebook and Messenger versions
- See if friends also can’t view stories – may be a broader issue
- Post a new story if the previous one is over 24 hours old
Usually it’s something simple like the privacy configuration or technical glitches. If the problem persists over an extended time, reach out to Facebook support for additional help troubleshooting.
Preventing Story Issues
Here are some tips to avoid your Facebook story not showing up on Messenger:
- Set stories to public or friends only
- Don’t restrict stories to close friends lists
- Double check Messenger settings allow seeing friends’ stories
- Update apps to the latest versions
- Avoid posting during Facebook outages or bugs
- Delete old stories so they don’t expire
- Highlight important stories you want to persist
Following these best practices will minimize issues and ensure your stories reach all your Messenger contacts reliably.
Conclusion
When your Facebook story doesn’t appear on Messenger, start by checking your story privacy settings and Messenger configurations. Technical problems can also temporarily disrupt the loading of stories. Stories expire after 24 hours, so older content won’t show up either. Troubleshoot by tweaking settings, refreshing connections, updating apps, and posting new story content as needed. With the right settings and some troubleshooting, you can get your stories showing up properly on Messenger again.