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Instagram DMs

Never miss an Instagram DM again.

Connect your Instagram Business or Creator account. Janore answers DMs in the customer's language while you sleep.

6 min readUpdated 2026-05-03v0.6

Overview

Instagram DMs are the de-facto inbox for many small French and Maghrebi businesses — restaurants, salons, boutiques, hotels. Janore plugs into Meta's Messenger Platform for Instagram so every DM gets answered, even at 3am.

Prerequisites

  • An Instagram Business or Creator account (personal accounts are not supported — switch in the Instagram app: Settings → Account → Switch to Professional).
  • The Instagram account must be linked to a Facebook Page you own.
  • A Meta App at developers.facebook.com — the same one you used for WhatsApp works fine.

Step-by-step setup

1

Add the Instagram product

In the Meta App dashboard, add the Instagram product. Click Add Page and pick the Facebook Page connected to your Instagram. Meta returns:

  • page_id — the linked Facebook Page id.
  • page_access_token — long-lived token with instagram_basic, instagram_manage_messages, and pages_messaging scopes.
2

Paste them into Janore

Open the dashboard and connect the channel. Paste the page id and access token. Janore generates a verify token — copy it. Dashboard → Channels → Instagram → Connect.

3

Wire up the webhook

In the Meta App: Instagram → Webhooks.

Callback URL:

webhook— url
https://janore.com/api/v1/channels/instagram/{ASSISTANT_ID}

Verify token: the value Janore gave you in step 2.

Subscribe to fields: messages, messaging_postbacks.

4

Send a DM

From a different Instagram account, send a DM to your business account. Janore replies within seconds. Watch the conversation flow live in the dashboard.

Test it

Story replies and mentions count too — Janore treats them as inbound messages and replies inline.

Limits

  • 24-hour messaging window — you can reply freely within 24h of the user's last message. Outside, only message tags or active conversations.
  • Business verification required for production scope.
  • Story replies and mentions are supported.
  • Media: same limits as the Messenger Platform — 25 MB images, 25 MB video.

Security & RGPD

TLS 1.3 in transit, 90-day default retention, RGPD export covers every Instagram message linked to a contact. Instagram DMs are subject to Meta's data-processing terms — review them before going live in regulated industries.

Troubleshooting

  • Stuck in development mode. Submit the Meta App for review (App Review → Permissions and Features). Provide a screencast of the bot answering a DM end-to-end.
  • Missing scope. Re-issue the Page access token after granting all three scopes. Old tokens keep working without the new scope until they expire.
  • Page not linked. In the Instagram app: Settings → Account → Linked Accounts → connect the Facebook Page you own.
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