🚨 Auto DMs are not being sent?
Work through the checks below in order.
1️⃣ Check the keyword Auto DM switch
🛠️ Open the Auto DM keywords & messages page, and 🔘 check that the keyword Auto DM button at the top is set to ‘On’.
2️⃣ Check for a clash with another DM service
🔗 If Manychat or another Auto DM service is still connected, ❌ the clash stops your Auto DMs from going out.
👉 See this page to disconnect it.
3️⃣ Check the Instagram app settings
📱 Check the following in the Instagram app:
- Profile page → tap ☰ (the menu at the top right)
- Choose Messages and story replies
- Choose Message requests
- Check that Allow access to messages is switched on ✅
If this setting is off, DM sending is restricted.
4️⃣ Check how keywords are matched
🔍 If your setting only recognises the exact keyword, anything typed slightly differently will not trigger the DM.
For example, if the keyword is set to event and someone comments event😊 or event pls, the DM may not be sent.
⚙️ On the Auto DM keywords & messages page → Settings, check whether ‘keyword contained’ matching is enabled.
5️⃣ Check whether Instagram has restricted you
🚫 If Auto DMs that were working suddenly stopped, the post itself may have been restricted by Instagram.
- ✅ First check whether Auto DMs on your other posts still work.
- 🧩 If only one post is affected → that post has most likely been restricted.
6️⃣ What you can try when Auto DMs are not sending
A. Send the Auto DM through DM-to-DM
- In the Auto DM setup, set a specific keyword rather than an unspecified one, and tick the DM-to-DM checkbox that asks whether to send it from a DM as well.
- Tell your followers to leave the keyword in a comment, and if they do not receive the Auto DM, to type the same keyword in a DM.
- Pin a comment at the top of the post telling people to send the keyword by DM.
That way your followers can still enter the keyword in the DM and receive the Auto DM.
B. Use Comment Watchdog
- Comment Watchdog is one of the Expert plan features.
- When Kittychat is connected to Instagram and a comment has been left on the post but no Auto DM goes out, this feature checks the comments every 3 minutes and sends the Auto DM.
- Once set, it stays on for 10 days; saving again extends it by another 10 days. You can keep it on for up to 5 Auto DMs.
C. Catch-up DM
For comments that were already left but never received an Auto DM, you can send them with Catch-up DM.
To run it, the post needs an Auto DM already set up. Run Catch-up DM on it and the Auto DM goes out exactly as that setup defines.
🚨 Careful: if Auto DMs will not send and you respond by sending a lot of manual DMs to followers, your DM function itself can be suspended.
7️⃣ The person does not follow you
If the recipient does not follow you, the Auto DM lands in their ‘Message requests’ folder and they may never get a notification.
📣 Ask them to check the General tab in their DM inbox, not just Primary.