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Instagram connects through Meta’s Business Login. You approve the connection on instagram.com and come back to Watx — there is nothing to paste and no Facebook Page required.

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Before you connect

Both of these are on the Instagram side, and getting either wrong produces no error anywhere — messages simply never arrive.
  • The account must be a Professional account — Business or Creator. A personal account cannot use Instagram’s messaging API at all.
  • In the Instagram app, turn on Settings → Messages and story replies → Allow access to messages. With it off, nothing reaches Watx and nothing reports a problem.
Both requirements are repeated on the connect screen, under Before you connect.

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Connect the account

1

Open the channel

Go to Channels → Instagram → Channel Settings.
2

Press Connect Instagram

The whole page navigates to Instagram’s consent screen. This is deliberate — Instagram blocks its consent dialog from being shown in a popup or a frame.
3

Approve on instagram.com

Log in as the professional account and approve the permissions. Watx asks for the access it needs to read and send direct messages and to read, reply to, hide and delete comments.
4

You land back on Channel Settings

A confirmation names the handle that was connected. The account card then shows the profile picture, @handle, the account id and the date you connected.
5

Pull in what already exists

Instagram only notifies Watx about activity after you connect. Go to Channels → Instagram → Posts and press Sync posts, then Sync comments, to bring in your existing posts and the comments made before today. See Posts and automation.

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Keeping access alive

Instagram access expires after a fixed period and Meta does not renew it silently. Watx renews it for you well before the deadline, and the account card shows how long is left: Access renews automatically · 42 days left. You do not need to do anything while that line is showing. If renewal cannot happen — the account revoked access, or the password changed — the page shows Access expired and a Reconnect button. Reconnecting is the same flow as connecting: nothing in the workspace is lost, and messages start arriving again as soon as it completes.
Conversations, contacts and comments already in Watx are kept whatever happens to the connection. Only new activity stops.

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If events are missing

Connecting also subscribes Watx to Instagram’s event notifications. If any of them did not subscribe, Channel Settings shows Some events are not subscribed, names which ones, and offers Re-subscribe. This is worth acting on immediately: a connection missing a subscription looks perfectly healthy and simply never receives those events. The full list is on Settings and analytics.

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Disconnecting

Channel Settings → Disconnect stops everything new: no DMs, no comments, and every comment automation halts. Existing conversations and comments are kept. You are asked to confirm first, and you can reconnect at any time.