What do the words in InstantDM mean?

Words in bold are written the way they appear in the app. Where a feature has more than one name, the other names are listed so you can match what’s on your screen.

Numbers and A

• 24-hour and 7-day windows: Instagram lets a business send one private reply to a comment within 7 days, and chat for 24 hours after someone messages you or taps a button. No tool can send outside these windows. See Instagram’s rules for automatic DMs.
• All comments (in the app: All Comments): answer every top-level comment on a post, with no trigger word. Legend Pro and above. See DM everyone who comments.
• All posts / All stories (also Global Posts Automation, Quick Global Automation): one automation for every post or story, including ones you upload later. A post with its own automation keeps it. See Automate all my posts.
• Also Include AI Comment Reply (to prevent comment spam): a checkbox that adds a built-in set of ready-made, varied public replies to yours. It does not write replies with AI. See Public comment replies.
• AI Reply: a step inside a flow that lets AI answer DMs, using your own OpenAI, Claude, Gemini or DeepSeek key. Trendsetter and above. See AI replies to DMs.
• API & MCP: a page (button at the top right of Home) to connect InstantDM to other apps and to AI assistants. Trendsetter and above. See Webhooks and API.
• Automation: a rule that says “when this happens, send that”. For example: when someone comments GUIDE, send my PDF. See Your first automation.
• Automation Group (tab Group Automation): one automation on several posts at once. See One automation on many posts.
• Automation Recovery: a page that lists DMs that didn’t go out (Message rejected, Out of credits, Flow stopped, Never finished), with a Resend button. See Resend missed DMs.
• Automations / Hour: the setting in Account Settings → Safety & Limits for how many new comment automations can start each hour. See DMs per hour.

C

• Caption code: a short word you put in your next post’s caption, so InstantDM knows which new post gets a Next post automation. Capitals don’t matter. See Set up an automation before I post.
• Comment Pooling: InstantDM checks a post itself for new comments for up to 12 hours at a time, in case Instagram didn’t report some. Trendsetter and above. See Make InstantDM answer missed comments.
• Comment Reply for Non-Followers: the public comment InstantDM posts when Instagram won’t let you DM someone who doesn’t follow you. See DMs to non-followers.
• Comment to DM: someone comments on your post or Reel, and they get a DM. The first choice in New Automation. See Send a DM when someone comments.
• Contacts: the list of people your flows and Lead Gen automations talked to, with their tags and answers. People who only got a Send Link DM don’t appear here. See Contacts page.
• Credit: one DM that Instagram or Facebook accepted. Public replies and failed DMs don’t use credits. See How credits work.

D

• DM: a direct message, the private chat in Instagram. Only that person sees it.
• DM Automation (also Quick DM): someone messages you a keyword, or anything at all, and gets an automatic reply. Legend Pro and above. See Auto-reply to a DM keyword.
• DM Insights: sorts incoming DMs and story replies by what people want (for example a purchase or a collaboration). All plans. See What is DM Insights?
• DM Sequence: several DMs in a row, up to 10, with a wait between them. Legend Pro and above. See Send several DMs in a row.

F

• Facebook Login (Connect FB Page, Connect Instagram via FB Page): connecting through your Facebook Page. Needed for Facebook Page automations and ad comments. See Instagram or Facebook login?
• First-week trial (on Home: PRO PLAN TRIAL): for about your first week, paid features are unlocked in the web app with no card. See Is InstantDM free?
• Flow Automation (also Flow Editor, Flow Builder): a visual builder for chats with several steps, buttons, questions, branches, reminders and AI. Made live with Set Live. Trendsetter and above, computer only. See What is Flow Automation?
• Follow gate (Ask audience to follow you before sending link!; in the app Follow For Link; in flows Followers only): people who don’t follow you get a “follow first” card, and the link comes after they follow. Legend Pro and above. See Make people follow before the link.

G and H

• Global (in Account Settings → Automation → Automation Controls): the master on/off switch. Off pauses every automation. See Automation settings.
• Human takeover: stops the AI for one person so you can chat yourself. Switch the person to Human in Contacts or in the flow’s contact list. The AI Reply step’s Human takeover switch lets the AI hand a chat to you. See Take over from the AI.

I

• Insights: your numbers, like DMs sent and link clicks. See What the numbers in Insights mean.
• Instagram Login (Connect your IG Account, Connect Instagram Directly): connecting straight through Instagram, no Facebook Page needed. See Connect your Instagram account.

L

• Lead Gen: asks people for their name, email or phone number in the DM and saves the answers. No email-tool sync. Legend Pro and above. See Collect emails and phone numbers.
• Library (tab Saved Libraries; Save to Library, Copy Automation): saved automations you can reuse on other posts. See Save and reuse an automation.

M and N

• Match exact word only: in Lead Gen, flows and DM automations, the whole message must be just the trigger word. See How trigger words work.
• Meta Ads: automations for comments on your Instagram ads. Needs Facebook Login. Trendsetter and above. See Auto-reply to ad comments.
• New Automation: the button on Home that walks you through When, Where and What to create an automation. See Your first automation.
• Next post (also Next Post Automation): an automation for a post you haven’t uploaded yet, matched by its caption code. Legend Pro and above. See Set up an automation before I post.

P

• Professional account: an Instagram Creator or Business account. InstantDM can’t connect personal accounts. See Switch to a professional account.
• Public reply (Reply with comment!, + Reply Comment): a reply posted under the person’s comment, visible to everyone. On by default. See Public comment replies.
• Publish (flows: Set Live; Lead Gen: Publish & Activate): makes an automation live. In the wizard, Publish Setup only opens the editor; you still publish there. See Turn off or edit an automation.

Q and R

• Quick Automation: the menu for one-step automations on posts, stories, ads and DMs, for Instagram and Facebook. It replaced Instagram DM and Facebook DM. See Where did things move?
• Re-run missed comments: checks a post again and answers comments InstantDM never received. Trendsetter and above. See Answer missed comments.
• Reply Delay: waits 10 seconds to about a minute before sending. Legend Pro and above. See Add a delay.
• Requests folder: where Instagram may put DMs from accounts people don’t follow. Instagram decides this, not InstantDM. See DMs to non-followers.

S

• Send Link & PDF (on the post page: Send Link or PDF; in the app: Send Link or Images): one reply for everyone, such as a link, price list or PDF. See Send Link, Lead Gen or Flow?
• Story to DM: someone replies to your story with text and gets a DM. Instagram only. Legend Pro and above. See Auto-reply to story replies.
• Sub-account: an extra InstantDM account under your login, with its own Instagram, plan and credits. See Add another Instagram account.

T

• Track link clicks: swaps your link for a short InstantDM link so it can count clicks. See Track link clicks.
• Trigger word (also Expected Word, Specific Comments, Custom Keywords, Trigger Words): the word people comment or send to get your DM. Free: up to 3 per automation. See How trigger words work.

V and W

• Viral Mode (on the plans: “Viral Mode activator”): on Trendsetter and Multi plans, when a busy post hits the hourly limit, new comments wait in a queue and are answered later. See When a post goes viral.
• Watermark (”|| Automation powered by InstantDM”): a line added to Send Link DMs on Free after the first week. Any paid plan removes it. See Is InstantDM free?
• Webhook: sends InstantDM events to another app, like Make or Zapier. Trendsetter and above. See Webhooks and API.
• Welcome Message: a first DM with one button. The person taps it, then gets your content. Legend Pro and above. See What is the Welcome Message?
• Whitelist Contacts: people who never get any automation, such as friends or your own test account. In Account Settings → Automation. See Stop automations for one person.
• Workspace (team): lets people you invite work in your InstantDM account. See Accounts, workspaces and team members.