How-to
How to create a Pinterest board on the web and in the app
Published · Lucas Viegas · 5 min read
On the web, click the square-plus icon in the navigation bar at the left of your screen, select Board, enter a name, then click Create. In the app, tap the plus icon, tap Board, name it, tap Create.
Every control name here is quoted from Pinterest’s help centre, fetched on 7 September 2026. Where the help centre says nothing, this post says so rather than filling the gap: no published board limit, no description field at creation time, and two different words for one privacy switch.
The short version
- One field, one switch, one button. Pinterest asks for a name, offers a secrecy toggle and collaborators, then Create.
- Leave the toggle off and the board is public. Pinterest describes public boards as visible on your profile and in search.
- Description, cover image and sections all come later, from a different screen. None of them appear while you are creating the board.
How do you create a Pinterest board on the web?
Six steps, straight from Pinterest’s Create a board page. The icon names look odd written out, but they are Pinterest’s: the help centre really does call it the square-plus icon.
- 1
Log in to your Pinterest account
There is no way to make a board while signed out, and the help centre opens every one of these flows with the same line.
- 2
Click the square-plus icon in the navigation bar at the left side of your screen
Pinterest names this control the square-plus icon and puts it in the left navigation bar on the web.
- 3
Select Board
The icon offers more than one thing to create. Pinterest adds that you can also click Create from your profile.
- 4
Enter a name for your board
Pinterest may suggest a name based on your activity and says you can edit it first. It is the only field the dialog asks for.
- 5
Toggle the switch next to Keep this board secret, or leave it off
Left off, the board is public: Pinterest describes public boards as visible on your profile and in search. Collaborators are added here too.
- 6
Click Create
That is the whole flow. Pinterest adds a tip: to reach your boards later, click the board icon in the sidebar.
How do you create a board in the Pinterest app?
Shorter, and the same on both phones. Open the Pinterest app, log in, tap the plus icon, tap Board, enter a name, then tap Create at the top-right corner. The privacy switch is worded differently here: Pinterest writes Make this board secret on iPhone and Android, against Keep this board secret on the web. The iPhone flow puts the name on its own step; the Android flow folds the name, the toggle and collaborators into one. Nothing else differs.
Can you make a board while you are saving a Pin?
Yes, and it is documented twice. On the web, hover a Pin in your home feed, click the directional-chevron-down icon next to the suggested board name, then Create board. Pinterest’s Save Pins to a board page reaches the same dialog from the arrow-down icon next to Save, then the plus icon. In the app, tap a Pin, tap Save, then Create board on iPhone or Create new board on Android.
Where does each control live?
The same six decisions, and what Pinterest calls them on each surface. The gaps are real: things the help centre does not offer at creation time, or at all on that device.
| Web | iPhone | Android | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open the creator | the square-plus icon in the left navigation bar | the plus icon | the plus icon |
| Choose what to make | Select Board | Tap Board | Tap Board |
| Privacy switch | Keep this board secret | Make this board secret | Make this board secret |
| Confirm | Click Create | Tap Create at the top-right corner | Tap Create at the top-right corner |
| Description | Not in the creation dialog: Edit board afterwards | Not in the creation dialog | Not in the creation dialog |
| Board cover | Edit board, then the plus icon | Edit board and header image, then the plus icon | Not offered: cover is iOS or desktop only |
Should the new board be public or secret?
Pinterest’s Manage your boards page draws the line: public boards are visible on your profile and in search, private boards only to you and any collaborators you invite, and group boards can be either. It is a decision you make at creation and can change afterwards.
Changing it later lives on a different page and under different wording. The article titled Private boards says to open the board, click the ellipsis icon, click Edit info and settings, scroll down and toggle Make this board private, then Done. To go the other way it says simply to toggle that off. We wrote the long version of that up separately in how to make a Pinterest board public, because anything outside Pinterest that reads your board, an embed, a scraper, a wallpaper app, needs the board to be public first.
What can you not set while creating a board?
The description
Not in the creation dialog. Pinterest’s Edit a board page is where it lives, described there as a little bit about your board.
The board cover
Also on Edit a board, via the plus icon. Pinterest calls it the largest image when viewing the board from your profile, and notes it is iOS or desktop only.
Sections
Sections are folders for Pins inside a board, and a new board has none. Pinterest’s Create a board section page starts by opening an existing board.
A guaranteed name
Pinterest may suggest a name based on your activity, and says you can edit it before you create the board. Read the field rather than accepting it.
Once the board has Pins, the two follow-ups are board sections and the board cover. If the board is going to be looked at rather than only saved to, our notes on organizing boards so they hold together visually cover the part Pinterest’s documentation cannot: what actually belongs on one board.
A board you just made, as your desktop.
VisionWall is a macOS menu-bar app that turns any public Pinterest board into a live, rotating desktop wallpaper. You give it the board’s URL, it composes the pins into a masonry layout and reshuffles that layout on every refresh, every 30 minutes by default and anywhere from 2 minutes to 2 hours, and new pins you save appear automatically. Public boards only, so leave that secrecy toggle off. macOS 13.3 Ventura or later. $9.99 once.
Get VisionWallFAQ
Where is the button to make a new Pinterest board?
On the web it is the square-plus icon in the navigation bar at the left side of your screen, then Board. Pinterest adds that you can also click Create from your profile. In both apps it is the plus icon, then Board.
Can you write a board description while you create the board?
The Create a board article does not mention one. The only fields it lists are the name, the secret toggle and collaborators. A description exists, but on the Edit a board page, described there as a little bit about your board.
Is a new Pinterest board public by default?
Yes, in the sense that the secrecy switch starts off. Pinterest describes public boards as visible on your profile and in search, and private boards as only visible to you and any collaborators you invite.
Why does Pinterest call it secret in one place and private in another?
Because the help centre itself uses both. Create a board says Keep this board secret on the web and Make this board secret in the app. The article titled Private boards says Keep this board private, and Make this board private in an existing board’s settings. Expect either word on screen.
How many Pinterest boards can you have?
Pinterest says there is a limit but never publishes the number. Its limits page says only that one exists, that archiving does not reduce your board count, that boards must be deleted to free room, and that it may take a few days before you can create a new one.
Can you undo creating a board?
You can archive it or delete it. Pinterest says an archived board will not show up in your public profile and cannot take new Pins, and that deleting a board deletes all the Pins on it, with seven days to restore it.
Keep reading
Board sections, explained
What a section is, how to add one, and when it starts hiding things.
Board covers
Edit board, the plus icon, and why Android cannot do it.
Make a board public
The setting anything outside Pinterest needs before it can read your board.
Sources
All eight pages fetched on 7 September 2026. Help centre pages change without notice; if a label no longer matches what you see, the page is the authority, not this post.