Troubleshooting

Common symptoms and what causes them.

Nothing happens when I comment

Work down this list:

1. Is the flow Active? The toggle in the flows list, and in the builder.
2. Are you testing from the connected account? Events authored by the connected account are ignored on purpose — otherwise the flow would answer its own comment reply forever. Test from a second Instagram account.
3. Is it a top-level comment? Replies underneath another comment don't start an automation.
4. Does the keyword match? Matching is case-insensitive and substring-based, but the word does have to be in there. An empty keyword list matches everything.
5. Is the flow watching that post? A flow pinned to one post ignores every other post. Set it to All Posts to widen it.
6. Has that comment already triggered? Each comment gets exactly one run, ever.
7. Is the Instagram account paused? Settings → Instagram accounts shows a Paused badge when your plan doesn't cover it. All its events are dropped.
8. Are you out of contact allowance? When it's used up, events are dropped rather than half-run. Check the sidebar meter.

The public reply appears but no DM arrives

The opening message is what sends the DM. Check:

• Opening Message is switched on and has text. A comment flow with response steps and no opening message can't be activated at all.
• The person's DM settings. Some accounts restrict message requests from people they don't follow.
• The DM may be in Requests, not the main inbox — a first message from a business often lands there.

The DM arrives but the rest of the flow never does

That's the design. The opening message is Instagram's single allowed private reply; the response steps only run after the person taps the button or replies. Until they do, the conversation waits.

If taps aren't converting, the fix is copy: say what they get, and make the button an action. See Opening Message.

The ask-to-follow gate says I'm not following

The check asks Instagram at the moment of the tap.

• A follow made seconds earlier may not be visible yet — wait a moment and tap again.
• The retry message is sent once. After that the flow stays quietly parked, but the button keeps working, so they can follow and tap again any time the 24-hour window allows.

Contacts show "Unknown" relationship

Instagram only lets a business look up a profile once that person has messaged the account. Contacts who only ever commented stay Unknown until they open a DM thread. "Unknown" is not the same as "not following". See Contacts.

I can't activate my flow

The builder lists the blocking problems in a red panel. The usual ones:

• An empty text step, a card with no title, an image step with no images.
• A lead form step with no form selected — this one is rejected on every save, even as a draft.
• A comment or live flow with response steps but no opening message.
• An opening message or follow-up switched on but left empty.
• A link button missing its label or URL.

I can't pick a post in the media picker

Tiles are locked when another flow of the same trigger type already watches that post — two flows on one post would try to answer the same commenter twice, and Instagram only allows one private reply. Edit the other flow, or point this one at different media.

I can't connect another Instagram account

Message	Fix
Your plan doesn't cover another Instagram account	Add accounts on the Plans page, or disconnect one you're not using.
That Instagram account is already connected to another workspace	Disconnect it from the other workspace first.
We couldn't connect that Instagram account	The consent screen was cancelled or Instagram errored. Try again.

Also confirm the account is Business or Creator, not Personal.

Flows stopped working after a while

Check the token expiry on Settings → Instagram accounts. Instagram's long-lived tokens last 60 days and are refreshed in the background, but a lapsed one stops sends. Use Refresh token, or reconnect the account.

My follow-up never sent

Follow-ups reach only people who tapped the opening message and then stalled at an ask-to-follow or lead-form step. Silent commenters can never receive one — their single private reply is spent. The nudge is also cancelled the moment they progress or the flow completes.

Someone got the flow twice

For comment events the first matching flow wins and the rest are skipped, so duplicates there are unusual. For DM and story triggers there's no such limit: two active flows with overlapping keywords will both fire. Keep keyword lists distinct.

Payment went through but my plan didn't change

The confirmation page polls until the payment settles, and the gateway's webhook does the same job in parallel — whichever lands first wins. If you closed the tab early, reopen Settings → Billing; it should be live within a minute. If it isn't, contact support with the payment date and amount.

Still stuck?

Check what your role allows first — members are read-only and simply won't see edit controls. Then contact support with the flow name, the Instagram account handle, and roughly when the event happened.