Say what you make in the first line
The bio is the line a new visitor reads before they scroll your posts. It has to say what the account is, in words they can check against the grid. "Digital creator" fits every account and tells them nothing. A private joke does the same job.
Write that line before you open Edit profile. The bio generator turns the words you type into it and will not add a niche you left blank. It does not look up another account's bio and rewrite it as yours.
Spend the 150 characters on three jobs
Instagram's Help Center says you can write a bio of up to 150 characters. Line breaks count toward that number. They are not free. An emoji can count as more than one character, and the counter in Edit profile wins if it disagrees with a page like this one.
Three jobs fit, and a fourth usually does not: what you make, who it is for, and one detail you can point at. A follower count you rounded up is not that detail. If you do not have the detail yet, leave the line blank. The generator does the same.
The link is a separate field
The website field sits under the bio. Use the bio to say what that link is, in words you would say out loud: the latest setup, a pinned post, or a place you actually answer. "Link in bio" without saying where it goes wastes characters you could have used on the work.
Hashtags belong on the post, not as the whole bio. The caption and hashtag generator drafts that caption from the same kind of notes and checks the 2,200-character caption limit. The bio and the caption are different fields.
A clear bio is not a growth promise
A specific bio helps a visitor decide to stay. It does not tell you whether the next post was saved. After you publish, the engagement rate calculator divides the likes and comments you paste in by followers or by reach. Compare that rate only with your other posts that used the same denominator.
Creator Climb does not log into Instagram. Paid plans audit a YouTube channel. Pro is $9 a month, Growth is $19, and Unlimited is $39. The bio tool stays free either way.
Questions
What should the first line of an Instagram bio say?
What you make, in words a new visitor can check against the posts. A title that could sit on any account does not do that.
Do line breaks count toward the 150 characters?
Yes. Instagram's Help Center caps the bio at 150 characters, and a line break is a character. The counter in Edit profile is the one to trust when you save.
Should I put hashtags in the bio?
Not as a substitute for the sentence. Hashtags are labels for a post. The caption generator is the tool for those.