What a grid preview actually shows
Your Instagram profile is a grid of 3:4 tiles, three across. A preview recreates that layout on your phone, using the photos you are about to publish, so you can look at the composition before it is public.
Good previews do three things: they use the real geometry, they show the real crops, and they let you change the order. Everything else — filters, stickers, captions — is secondary. The grid is about arrangement.
The three details most previews get wrong
1. The gap is thin, not generous
Instagram separates tiles by a hairline, not by a margin. A preview with wide gutters flatters every grid: photos get air they will not have on your profile. Prevz uses the tight gap so the composition you approve is the composition you get.
2. Tiles are 3:4, not square
The feed is 3:4 in portrait and 1:1 for some formats, and a square preview crops the wrong thing. If you composed a photo for a tall tile, a square preview will hide the part you cared about. The crop is half the composition.
3. Carousels and pins move the nine
A carousel occupies one tile — its cover. A pinned post sits above newer posts regardless of date. A Reel shared to the feed takes a slot. A preview that ignores these shows a grid you do not have.
How the Prevz preview works
- Import from your iPhone. Single posts, carousels, or up to sixty photos in multi-test. No account required.
- The grid uses Instagram's geometry. Three columns, 3:4 tiles, square corners, tight gap.
- Drag to reorder. Hold a tile and move it; the rest of the nine shifts around it.
- Compare two layouts. Save the grid you have, try another order, then look at both side by side and keep one.
- Read the palette. The nine dominant colours of your first nine tiles, computed on the phone, with HEX codes you can copy.
Previews, drafts, saved layouts and palettes live on your iPhone. Nothing is uploaded to build a grid, and nothing is published from the app.
Preview without connecting Instagram
You do not need an Instagram account to use a grid preview. Import photos from your camera roll and build the layout manually — that is the fastest path for a one-off post.
Connecting a Creator or Business account adds imported posts and, later, the statistics a year recap needs. It is optional, and Prevz never uses that connection to post, follow or message anyone.
What a preview can't tell you
A preview shows composition, not performance. It cannot predict likes, reach or saves, and any tool that claims otherwise is guessing. What it can do is remove the most common regret: publishing a photo that breaks the row you spent an evening building.