Connect Instagram DMs
Instagram is single sign-on only — there are no credential fields, by design. Story replies and DMs arrive as ordinary conversations in the same queue.
Instagram has no credential form and never will. Meta does not issue tokens a business can enter by hand for this, so a form asking for one would be a form that never works. The whole connection is a Facebook sign-in.
Two prerequisites sit outside Convarza and cause almost every failed attempt: the account must be a professional account (business or creator), and it must be linked to a Facebook Page you administer. A personal account cannot be connected at all.
Before you start
- An Instagram professional (business or creator) account.
- That account linked to a Facebook Page you administer.
- Message access for connected tools enabled in the Instagram app.
Steps
Confirm the account is professional and linked
Do this in the Instagram app before you start. Switching account type later means reconnecting, and the error you get from attempting it with a personal account is not especially clear.
Add an Instagram channel and log in with Facebook
SSO only, deliberately. There are no credential fields, because Meta does not issue tokens a business can enter by hand for Instagram — a form asking for one would be a form that never works.
Use an account that is unlikely to leave the company. When the authorising person goes, so does the channel's access.
Pick the routing
An AI bot answers immediately, or the DMs land unassigned for your team. Instagram DMs tend to arrive in bursts after a post or an ad, which makes it a good candidate for a bot that deflects the repeat questions.
Decide about contact creation
By default a DM creates a contact so the conversation has a record to attach to. On a public account that receives a lot of one-word messages, that fills your contact list with people who will never be customers.
Turn on do not create contact if that describes your account — but understand the trade: those conversations then have no record to carry notes, tasks or a lead stage.
DM the account from another phone to test
Story replies arrive as ordinary conversations too, in the same queue with the same filters and the same assignment rules.
Check it worked
Your test DM should appear in the Inbox tagged as an Instagram conversation. If nothing arrives, check in the Instagram app that message access for connected tools is still switched on — it can be reset by app updates.
The parts people get wrong
- If the authorising person leaves the company or loses their Page role, the channel loses access. Reconnect with an account that still has rights.
- Comments on posts are a different surface and are not conversations. Only DMs and story replies arrive.