What should I do when a post goes viral?

Before you start

• On Free, credits can run out. You start with 500, and each DM uses one. When they run out, nothing is sent: no DM and no public reply.
• The tools you have depend on your plan:

Tool	What it does	Plan
Automations / Hour	Your hourly pace for comment automations	All plans
Queue (Viral Mode)	Comments over your pace wait and are answered later, instead of being skipped	Trendsetter and Multi plans
Comment Limit / Hour (Smart Mode)	Above this number per hour, public replies pause and DMs continue	Trendsetter and Multi plans
Comment Pooling	InstantDM checks a post itself for new comments Instagram didn’t report, for up to 12 hours	Trendsetter and above
Re-run missed comments	Goes back over one post’s comments and answers the ones never handled	Trendsetter and above
Resend in Automation Recovery	Sends DMs that Instagram refused again	All plans (uses credits)

Steps

1. Click Account Settings → Safety & Limits and choose your Automations / Hour. A higher pace answers more people per hour. A lower pace is gentler on your account. Click Save.
2. On Trendsetter or a Multi plan, set Comment Limit / Hour in the same tab (default 250; 0 currently works like 250, so enter a higher number to keep public replies going longer). Click Save.
3. Open the post: Quick Automation → the Instagram tab → Posts → click the post → All Comments tab. Read the tags on each comment:
   • Sent and Replied: done.
   • Scheduled (“Waiting in Queue”): queued, it will be answered later.
   • Rate limit reached: over your hourly pace and not answered.
   • Instagram limit reached: Instagram asked your account to slow down. InstantDM retries after your Rate Limit Retry time.
4. If new comments are not showing up at all, start Comment Pooling: Automation Recovery → Comment Pooling → Pool a post. Pick the post, How often to check and Keep checking for, then click Start pooling.
5. When the rush slows, click Re-run missed comments on the post page, then Continue. See re-run missed comments.
6. Open Automation Recovery → Missed & Failed and click Resend on DMs that Instagram refused. See resend missed DMs.

On the phone app

• Hourly pace and Comment Limit / Hour: profile photo → Settings → Safety & Limits → Save Changes.
• Re-run: Home → Instagram → Posts → tap the post → Re-run missed comments.
• Resend: Home → Automation Recovery → Missed & Failed.
• Comment Pooling is not in the app. Use the web app at app.instantdm.com.

What your followers see

• Queued comments: the DM arrives later than usual.
• Over the pace on Free or Legend Pro: no DM and no public reply. Those comments are not answered automatically later, and Re-run is only on Trendsetter and above.
• Smart Mode on: they get the DM but no public reply.

Good to know

• Comment Pooling watches up to 3 posts at once, for at most 12 hours per start. “Only comments posted after you start are picked up, so nobody who commented earlier gets messaged.”
• Re-run works on one post or Reel at a time, not on stories, all-posts or next-post automations.
• Instagram allows a private reply only within 7 days of the comment. Older comments can’t be answered.
• Each item in Missed & Failed can be resent up to 3 times, 10 minutes apart, and up to 200 at once.
• Varied public replies look less repetitive. Add several of your own, or tick Also Include AI Comment Reply (to prevent comment spam), which adds ready-made reply lines to yours.
• The hourly count is approximate. Don’t plan around an exact number.

What you can’t do

• Switch the queue (Viral Mode) on or off, or choose how fast it empties.
• Re-run or pool stories or DMs.
• Reply to comments older than 7 days.

If it doesn’t work

• “Re-running a post is available on Trendsetter and above”: Re-run is not on your plan. This includes the free first week.
• “Available on Trendsetter and above” on Comment Pooling: same reason.
• “Rate limited by Instagram/Facebook — try again in 30–60 minutes”: Instagram is limiting requests. Try again later.
• A pooled post shows Cooling off (“Rate limited — cooling off (30–60 min). Pooling resumes automatically.”): nothing to do. Pooling restarts by itself.