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100% Official API
How-to guides
What do you want to do?
Short, step-by-step answers for setting up InstantDM, written from your side of the screen. Every guide uses the same button names you'll see in the app.
Most asked
How do I set up my first automation? (Start here) Switch Instagram to a Creator or Business account, sign up at app.instantdm.com with Continue With Instagram, and finish the setup window. Then click New Automation, choose Comment to DM, pick a post, choose Send Link & PDF, add a trigger word and your message, and click Publish. Test it by asking a friend to comment the word. How do I send a DM when someone comments on my post or Reel? On Home, click New Automation, choose Comment to DM, pick your post under Existing posts, then choose Send Link & PDF. Add a trigger word such as LINK, write your DM with the link and click Publish. Everyone whose comment contains that word gets the DM. This works on all plans. How do I make people follow me before they get the link? In the post's Send Link or PDF automation, turn on Ask audience to follow you before sending link! and click Publish. People who already follow you get the link. Others get a Follow to Unlock card with Open Profile and Started following you! 👍 buttons, and get the link after they follow and tap. Legend Pro and above, Instagram only. How do I collect emails and phone numbers in Instagram DMs? Create a New Automation, pick the posts, stories or inbox, and choose Lead Gen. Add Capture Email, Capture Phone or Capture Name steps, then click Save and Publish & Activate. Answers appear in the post's Lead Gen Contacts tab and in Contacts. Lead Gen is on Legend Pro and above and does not sync to email tools; use a Flow for that. Why didn't my automation send a DM? Check these first: the red 'Instagram conection expired' banner (reconnect), your credits, the Global and DMs switches in Account Settings → Automation, whether the comment contained your trigger word, and whether it was a reply inside a thread. Then read the comment's tag in the post's All Comments tab and the reason in Automation Recovery → Missed & Failed. Is InstantDM safe for my Instagram account? InstantDM connects through Instagram's official login and sends DMs through Meta's official messaging tools, so you never give it your password. It only replies to people who contacted you and paces DMs per hour. No tool can promise Instagram will never limit an account, so keep volume sensible and follow Instagram's rules.
Ask your AI assistant instead
Paste this link into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, then ask your question in your own words. It lists every guide with its short answer and a link to the full steps, so the answer comes from InstantDM's real screens instead of a guess. Every guide page also has its own "Copy guide for AI" button.
Using an assistant that can read very long files? All guides in one file.
https://instantdm.com/how-to/llms.txt Start here
What InstantDM does, whether it’s safe and free, and how to send your first automatic DM.
- What is InstantDM and what can it do?
- Is InstantDM safe for my Instagram account?
- Is InstantDM free? What does the free plan include?
- Do I need a professional Instagram account? How do I switch?
- How do I connect my Instagram account to InstantDM?
- Should I connect with Instagram or with Facebook?
- How do I set up my first automation? (Start here)
- How do I test my automation before my followers see it?
- Send Link, Lead Gen or Flow: which one should I pick?
- Where did Instagram DM, Facebook DM, Team and API & MCP go?
- What can I do in the InstantDM phone app?
- How do I log in to InstantDM?
- I'm moving from ManyChat. What's the same and what's different?
- What do the words in InstantDM mean?
Auto-DM people who comment
Send a link, a file or a message to everyone who comments on a post or Reel.
- How do I send a DM when someone comments on my post or Reel?
- How do trigger words work?
- How do I DM everyone who comments, without a keyword?
- How do I reply publicly to comments without looking like spam?
- What is the Welcome Message and should I turn it on?
- How do I send a PDF, buttons or product cards in the DM?
- How do I send several DMs in a row?
- How do I automate all my posts, including future ones?
- How do I set up an automation before I post? (caption code)
- How do I put one automation on many posts at once?
- How do I add a delay before the DM is sent?
- How do I see how many people clicked my link?
- How do I save an automation and reuse it on other posts?
- How do I turn off, edit or delete an automation?
- A post has more than one automation. Which one runs?
- Can I automate a collab post?
Story replies and DM keywords
Answer story replies and messages that contain a keyword.
- How do I auto-reply when someone replies to my Instagram story?
- How do I auto-reply when someone DMs me a keyword on Instagram?
- How do I auto-reply to everyone who messages me on Instagram?
- How do I auto-reply when someone shares my post to my DMs?
- Can InstantDM reply when someone mentions me in their story?
- How do I stop automations from interrupting when I'm chatting with someone?
- Can an automation reply only once per person?
Collect leads and grow followers
Ask for emails and phone numbers, ask people to follow you first, and send leads to your email tool.
- How do I make people follow me before they get the link?
- How do I collect emails and phone numbers in Instagram DMs?
- Which answers will the email, phone and name questions accept?
- Where do I find and download the leads I collected?
- How do I send Instagram leads to Mailchimp?
- How do I send Instagram leads to Kit (ConvertKit)?
- How do I send Instagram leads to Klaviyo?
- How do I book calls from Instagram comments?
Multi-step flows
Build conversations with buttons, questions, reminders and branches.
- What is Flow Automation and when do I need it?
- How do I create a flow from a template?
- How do I build a flow by describing it to AI?
- What does each step in a flow do?
- How do I ask questions in a flow and save the answers?
- How do I send a reminder if someone doesn't reply?
- How do I put someone's name or answer into a message?
- How do I send different messages based on someone's answer or tag?
- How do I turn a flow on, and what do the Set Live errors mean?
- How do I organize, duplicate or copy a flow to Facebook?
- How do I share a flow or import one someone shared?
AI replies
Let AI answer your DMs, and step in yourself when you want to.
Ads and Facebook
Reply to comments on your ads and automate your Facebook Page and Messenger.
- How do I auto-reply to comments on my Instagram ads and boosted posts?
- Why can't I see my ads in InstantDM?
- Can InstantDM handle click-to-message ads or Facebook ad comments?
- How do I connect my Facebook Page?
- How do I send a Messenger DM when someone comments on my Facebook post?
- How do I auto-reply to Messenger keywords?
- What works differently on Facebook?
Contacts and results
See who got your DMs, what they answered and how your automations are doing.
Scheduling, integrations and API
Schedule posts, sell Shopify products and connect InstantDM to other apps and AI assistants.
Instagram rules and safety
How Instagram limits automatic DMs and how to keep your account healthy.
- What are Instagram's rules for automatic DMs?
- Do DMs reach people who don't follow me or have private accounts?
- How many DMs can InstantDM send per hour?
- What should I do when a post goes viral?
- What do the Safety & Limits settings do?
- What do the switches in Account Settings > Automation do?
- Instagram limited my account. What should I do?
Fix a problem
Automation not sending, missed DMs, connection errors and warning emails.
- Why didn't my automation send a DM?
- How do I resend DMs that failed or were missed?
- How do I make InstantDM answer comments it missed on a post?
- InstantDM asks me to reconnect. How do I fix it?
- Why can't I connect my Instagram account?
- Why did someone get my DM twice?
- Why didn't my next-post automation start on my new post?
- Why does the follow message keep coming after someone followed?
- What do InstantDM's warning emails mean?
Multiple accounts and teams
Run several Instagram accounts, connect client accounts and invite your team.
- What is the difference between accounts, workspaces and team members in InstantDM?
- How do I add and switch between Instagram accounts in InstantDM?
- How do I connect a client's Instagram account without their password?
- How do I invite a team member to InstantDM?
- How do I reuse an automation or flow on another InstantDM account?
- What plan do I need to run several Instagram accounts on InstantDM?
Plans and billing
Credits, plans, upgrades, cancelling, refunds and invoices.
- How do credits work in InstantDM?
- What InstantDM plan should I choose?
- How do I upgrade or change my InstantDM plan?
- How do I cancel my InstantDM subscription?
- Can I get a refund from InstantDM?
- Where do I download my InstantDM invoices?
- How do I manage an InstantDM subscription I bought in the iPhone or Android app?
- How do I delete my InstantDM account?
