Instagram's 24-hour messaging window, explained

What the window is

When someone sends your business a message on Instagram, you can reply to them for the next 24 hours. Every new message from them starts the 24 hours again. If they go quiet for longer than that, your business cannot message them again until they write.

This applies to messages sent through Meta's messaging API, which is how every official automation tool works, ChatConvert included. It exists so that people decide when a business can message them, and it is a big part of why Instagram DMs feel less like spam than email or SMS.

What opens the window

The window opens when the person does something in your DMs. In practice that means:

• They send you a message, a photo or a voice note.
• They reply to one of your stories.
• They mention you in their story.
• They tap a button in a message you sent them.

A like or a follow does not open it. Neither does a comment under your post, which works differently.

Comments: one private reply

A comment does not open the DM window. Instead, Instagram lets a business send one private reply to each comment: a DM that refers to that comment. It is allowed for a limited time after the comment is posted (seven days at the time of writing), so automation that replies within seconds never comes near the limit.

One reply means one message, which is why a good comment flow opens with a button. When the person taps it, they have acted in your DMs, the window is open, and you can send the product card, the price and anything else.

Tip: Tell people what to expect in the public reply: "Sent you a DM. Look in message requests if it is not in your inbox." DMs from accounts someone does not follow often land in requests.

What you can send inside the window

Anything a normal conversation needs: text, photos and videos, voice notes, links, product carousels and replies with buttons. Inside the window a flow can send a few messages in a row, ask a question and wait for the answer, or come back a few hours later with a follow-up.

What you cannot do once it closes

• Send a follow-up or a reminder to someone who stopped replying more than 24 hours ago.
• Start a conversation with someone who has never messaged you.
• Message everyone who once commented, as a broadcast.

Meta has a separate, narrow allowance that lets a person on your team reply to a recent conversation a little later in some cases. It is meant for people, not for automated messages, so do not build a flow that depends on it.

Planning follow-ups that stay inside it

The window is measured from their last message, not from yours. So a follow-up has to go out before 24 hours have passed since they last wrote. A few hours later is usually right: long enough not to feel pushy, soon enough to be remembered.

1. Send the product and the price first, while they are still in the chat.
2. Give them a reason to reply: a question with buttons, such as Sizes or Delivery.
3. If they go quiet, send one follow-up a few hours later.
4. If they still do not reply, stop. They can write again, and the window opens again when they do.

How ChatConvert keeps to it

Every follow-up and every Wait block is checked against the window before it is sent. A wait that would end after the window closes stops the flow instead of sending late, and the inbox will not let your team send a message outside the window either. You never have to track the clock yourself.