# Connect Instagram

> Connect an Instagram professional account so its Direct messages arrive in your Message24 inbox.

Source: https://docs.message24.net/owners/channels/instagram/

Connect your Instagram account and its Direct messages appear in your Inbox, where you and the AI can reply.

## Before you start

- Your Instagram account must be a professional (business) account.
- You need to be an admin of your business in Message24.
- Each Instagram account can be connected to only one Message24 business.

## Connect an account

1. Go to **Settings > Channels** and select **Add Channel**.
2. On the **Instagram** card, select **Connect**.
3. Instagram opens. Sign in to the Instagram account you want to connect. If your Instagram account is linked to Facebook, you can use the option to log in with Facebook instead.
4. Approve the permissions Message24 asks for.
5. Back in Message24, on **Select an Instagram Account**, choose the account and select **Add Account**.
6. You are taken to the Inbox.

The new channel shows **Syncing** while Message24 imports your recent conversations, then **Ready**.

To connect another account, go back to **Add a Channel** and select **Add More Accounts** on the Instagram card. Sign in to the other account when Instagram opens.

If the account is already connected to another business, you see "This Instagram account is already connected to another business." Disconnect it there first.

## Reconnect an account

If the health line under the channel says the connection expired or messages are not arriving:

1. Go to **Settings > Channels**.
2. Select **Reconnect** on the health line, or open the **...** menu and select **Reconnect channel**.
3. Sign in to the same Instagram account and approve access again.

You see "Channel reconnected" when it works.

## Message24 isn't the receiving app

If your Instagram account has more than one messaging app connected, Meta picks one of them to answer. When that app isn't Message24, the health line says "Message24 isn't the receiving app", and anything sent from Message24 on those conversations is dropped before it reaches the customer.

Instagram routing is set on the Facebook Page connected to your Instagram account. You need admin (full control) of that Page:

1. Log in to Facebook as the Page connected to your Instagram account.
2. Open that Page's Settings.
3. Go to Page Setup > Instagram Conversation Routing.
4. Set Message24 as the default application.

If your leads come from Click-to-Message ads, set the receiving app in each ad's message template to Message24 as well.

## Disconnect an account

Open the **...** menu on the channel in **Settings > Channels** and select **Disconnect channel**. Your conversations and orders are kept. See [Disconnect a channel](/owners/channels/overview/#disconnect-a-channel).

## Related

- [Channels overview](/owners/channels/overview/)
- [Facebook Messenger](/owners/channels/facebook-messenger/)
- [Automations](/owners/ai/automations/) for replying to comments on your posts