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Connecting Channels

Connect Instagram

Connect your Instagram Business or Creator account to manage direct messages through Qwetty.

Prerequisites

• An Instagram Business or Creator account (personal accounts are not supported)
• A Facebook Page connected to your Instagram account
• Admin access to your Qwetty organization

Connection steps

Creating a channel runs through a short wizard (Details → Type → Connect → Finish):

1. Go to Settings → Channel and click Create Channel
2. Details — Enter a name for your channel
3. Type — Select Instagram
4. Connect — Click Connect with Instagram
5. You'll be redirected to Instagram's authorization page — sign in with your Instagram account
6. Grant the required permissions:
   • instagram_business_basic — Access profile information
   • instagram_business_manage_messages — Send and receive DMs
   • instagram_business_manage_comments — Manage comments
   • instagram_business_content_publish — Publish content
7. Authorize the application and Finish

Once authorized, you'll be redirected back to Qwetty and your channel status will show as Connected. Incoming Instagram DMs will appear in the Chats page.

What you can do

• Receive and reply to Instagram direct messages
• View sender profile information (username, followers, bio)
• Send text messages, images, audio, video, and PDF files
• Send heart stickers and emoji reactions
• Share your own Instagram posts in conversations

Messaging window

Instagram has a 24-hour messaging window. After a customer messages you, you have 24 hours to respond. After that window closes, you can still respond using the Human Agent tag, which extends the response window for cases where a human agent needs more time.

See Channel Limitations for more details on messaging windows.

Limitations

• No group messaging — Instagram DMs via API are one-to-one only
• Messages in the Requests folder that have been inactive for 30+ days are not returned via API
• When customers share media (reels, posts), only the URL link is included
• Story replies and mentions appear as regular DMs

Channel details

After connecting, go to Settings → Channel → [Your Channel] → Details to view:

• Overview — Profile picture, username, followers, following, posts, bio, and website
• Activity — Connection and message activity logs

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
"No Instagram account found"	Ensure your Instagram account is a Business or Creator account
OAuth error during connection	Try clearing your browser cache and reconnecting
Messages not arriving	Check that your Instagram account has messaging enabled in Instagram settings
Disconnected unexpectedly	The OAuth token may have expired — reconnect from Settings → Channel

Next steps

• Channel Dashboard — Monitor your Instagram channel
• Channel Limitations — Understand messaging windows and restrictions
• Inbox Overview — Learn how to manage conversations