Connecting an Instagram Account

To connect Instagram, your account must be a professional account (an Instagram Business or Creator account, not a personal one), and Instagram is connected through Meta’s login — the same authorization used for Facebook. If your Instagram account does not appear during connection, the cause is almost always one of two things: it is still a personal account, or it is not set up the way Meta requires. Both are covered below.

Before you start

You need:

• An Instagram Business or Creator account — the connect card is labeled “Connect your Instagram Business or Creator account.” A personal Instagram account cannot be connected.
• The Meta login used to connect must have permission to manage that Instagram account.

Business or Creator — either works

The product accepts both Instagram Business and Instagram Creator accounts. It does not accept personal accounts. If you are unsure which type you have, check Instagram’s own account settings before starting.

The Facebook Page and Instagram relationship

This is the part of Meta’s model that confuses most people, so read it before you connect.

Meta does not treat Instagram as a fully standalone product for tools like this one. In the most common setup, an Instagram professional account is linked to a Facebook Page, and that Page is what grants a tool access to the Instagram account’s comments and messages. When you connect through Facebook, we read the Instagram account through the Facebook Page it is linked to.

What this means in practice:

• If your Instagram account is linked to a Facebook Page, connecting is straightforward — the linked Instagram account is discovered from that Page.
• If your Instagram account is not linked to any Facebook Page, it may not appear during connection.

If Instagram is missing, check the Page link first

The single most common reason an Instagram account does not show up is that it is not linked to a Facebook Page (or the account is still personal). Fix the link on Meta’s side first, then reconnect.

How to connect

There are two places to start a connection: during onboarding, or later from the Accounts page.

1. Open the connect screen. During onboarding this is the first step. Later, go to Accounts and click Add Platform, which opens the Connect an Account dialog.
2. Click Connect on the Instagram card. The button reads Connect (or Reconnect if you have connected this account before). It shows Connecting… while it redirects you to Meta.
3. Authorize on Meta. Meta shows a consent screen listing the access being requested. Approve it to continue. This screen belongs to Meta, not to this app.
4. Choose pages to monitor. After authorizing, you land on Choose pages to monitor. Select the account you want us to moderate, then finish.

Screenshot — pending capture The Connect an Account dialog on the Accounts page, showing the Instagram Connect button

The Connect an Account dialog. Click Connect on the Instagram card to start.

Screenshot — pending capture Meta OAuth consent screen listing the Instagram access being requested

Meta's consent screen. Approve it to grant access.

Screenshot — pending capture The Choose pages to monitor step during onboarding

Choose pages to monitor: pick the Instagram account to moderate.

What we can access

When you authorize on Meta, you are granting access to:

• Read the connected Instagram account — its profile and media.
• Moderate comments on that Instagram account — this is what lets Workflows hide and reply to comments.
• Read and reply to direct messages on the Instagram account.

What we do not request

We do not request any advertising permissions. On Facebook, the requested access is deliberately scoped to reading Pages and moderating comments and messages — no ad reading or ad management. The Instagram access follows the same least-privilege approach.

Verify the connection is active

After connecting, open Accounts and check the account’s status badge:

• Active (green) — connected and ingesting comments normally.
• Re-auth (amber) — the connection needs re-authentication; click Re-authenticate Now.
• Error (red) — something failed; the banner shows the reason.

A newly connected account should read Active. If it does not, see the troubleshooting below and Fix a disconnected account.

Comments arrive within seconds, not instantly

Once a comment is ingested, a matching Workflow evaluates it in about a second, and the resulting action (such as hiding a comment) reaches Meta within about ten seconds. New comments come in through real-time updates, with a periodic poll as a backstop.

Troubleshooting

I can’t see my Instagram account

Symptom: You start the Instagram connection, but your account is missing from the list, or connection appears to fail.

Cause: Almost always one of two Meta requirements is unmet:

1. The account is still a personal Instagram account, not Business or Creator.
2. The Instagram account is not linked to a Facebook Page (see the Page relationship above).

Fix:

1. In Instagram, switch the account to Business or Creator if it is still personal.
2. On Meta’s side, make sure the Instagram account is linked to the Facebook Page you manage.
3. Return to Accounts → Add Platform, and click Connect (or Reconnect) on the Instagram card again.
4. On Choose pages to monitor, confirm the account now appears and select it.

Prevention: Set the account to Business or Creator and link it to your Facebook Page before you start the connection. That order avoids the most common failure.

The account shows Re-auth or Error

Symptom: The account connected, but later shows an amber Re-auth badge or a red Error badge.

Cause: Access tokens expire, and connections can drop for reasons outside this app. This is expected over time — see Why connections expire.

Fix: Open the account on the Accounts page and click Re-authenticate Now (for Re-auth) or follow the error banner’s reason. Full steps are in Fix a disconnected account.

Prevention: Reconnect promptly when you see the amber badge. While an account is disconnected, its comment ingestion pauses; the poll backfills comments after you reconnect, but only within the window Meta still makes available.

Related

• Connecting a Facebook Account
• Fix a disconnected account
• Why connections expire
• Quickstart