How to reply to Instagram messages, from basics to automatic

How to reply to a message on Instagram

How to reply to a specific message

When someone sends several questions at once — or in a group chat — answer each one in the right place: swipe the message to the right (or press and hold it and choose Reply). Your answer appears linked to the original message, so nobody wonders which question you answered.

How to reply from a computer

Go to instagram.com, log in and open Messages. For a professional account, the Meta Business Suite inbox is usually better: it puts Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp in one place and comes with Meta’s free automations — instant reply, away message and keyword replies.

The messages you didn’t see: message requests

Messages from people you don’t follow often land in message requests, outside your main list. Check them every day: that’s where a lot of new customers wait. Open the request and accept it to reply normally. Professional accounts also split the inbox into Primary and General — move chats that need an answer to Primary so nothing slips.

Edit, unsend, pin and schedule

• Edit: press and hold a message you sent and choose Edit. You can edit for up to 15 minutes after sending, up to five times; “Edited” appears above the message. Messages with mentions or commands can’t be edited — but they can be unsent.
• Unsend: press and hold the message and choose to unsend it. The other person may already have read it, even in a notification.
• Pin: you can pin up to three messages in a chat; they show as a banner at the top for everyone in it. Available in the phone apps.
• Schedule: you can schedule a message for later — handy for a live class reminder or the end of a sale. It’s available in the Android, iPhone and iPad apps, not on a computer.
• Translate: got a message in another language? Instagram can translate it inside the chat.

How to reply faster

• Quick replies: save your price, link and policies under a shortcut — type “price” and the full text appears. Setup and 30 examples: Instagram quick replies.
• FAQs in chats: up to four questions people can tap when they open a chat with you, each with an automatic answer. Find them under Messages → Tools → Frequently asked questions.
• Away message: in Meta Business Suite, for people who write outside your hours.
• An AI that answers for you: for when none of that keeps up — see below.

Replies to start with

27 more — welcome messages, booking, shipping, collabs, complaints — in Instagram quick replies.

Tips so no customer slips through

• Reply fast. Someone asking the price is deciding now; tomorrow they’ve bought elsewhere.
• Answer first. Price, date or link in the first line; explanation after.
• One question at a time. If you need information, ask for one thing — size, zip code or date.
• End with a next step. “Want the link?” gets more replies than a full stop.
• Check message requests daily. A lot of sales sit there unanswered.

When replying by hand stops working

If your DMs fill up faster than you can answer, questions arrive overnight, or every reel brings hundreds of comments, no shortcut fixes it. ohyap answers your DMs on its own, 24/7, from the information you wrote and in your tone — in any language, voice notes included — sends the link to people who comment your keyword, and steps aside the moment you reply by hand. The Free plan already includes the AI. How it works: Instagram auto reply.