Everything between an Instagram account and {{brand.name}} sits on one page: whether the connection is healthy, when the permissions renew, where people write to you from, and what they see when a chat opens. This guide walks through every box on Account settings › Connection, one at a time.
⚠️ Only the portfolio's owner and admins see this page. Editors, agents and viewers can't get in even by typing the address. If security settings are configured that way, you may be asked to verify your identity once more (passkey or two-step code) before the page opens.
In this article you will find:
How to reach the page
The connection status card
The Renew permissions / Reconnect section
The chat link and QR code
Ice breakers and the persistent menu
Common mistakes and how to fix them
How to reach the page
Pick the Instagram account you care about from the account switcher at the top left.
Open account settings.
Click Connection.
The page is titled Connection, with the line "This account's Instagram connection, permissions and chat entry points." underneath.
If you have just come back from Meta, a notice sits at the very top: a green "Connection renewed. New messages will arrive in the inbox." on success, or a red error message if something went wrong.
The connection status card
The card under the Connection status heading is the account's health report.
What the card shows
Profile picture and account name. The picture comes from Meta and is refreshed regularly in the background.
Username. Sits under the name as @username.
Connection path badge.Instagram login or Via Facebook Page. This is where you learn which path the account is on.
Health badge. One of three values:
Active (green) — nothing wrong.
Renewal due (yellow) — 3 days left on the token on the Instagram path, or 14 days left on the permission on the Facebook path.
Needs reconnecting (red) — the connection is broken or erroring. No messages arrive and automations don't run.
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Last event. When the most recent event arrived from Meta. The quickest way to see that the subscription really works.
Health note. "Renews automatically · next renewal: date" on the Instagram path, "Permission time left: N days" on the Facebook path. If the connection is broken, this line isn't written.
Error reason. If something is wrong, a small red line explains it: access no longer valid, token could not be renewed, webhook subscription failed, permission removed on Meta, and so on.
The buttons on the card
If the connection isn't cut and you have the rights, these sit on the right of the card:
Renew webhook subscription — appears only in the error state. Re-establishes the event subscription on Meta. On success the card returns to Active.
Also delete contacts and conversations — a checkbox. Disconnect without ticking it and your data stays; tick it and that account's contacts and conversations are deleted too.
Disconnect — cuts the account's Meta connection. A confirmation appears first: "Disconnect account name? New messages will stop arriving."
⚠️ Note: "Also delete contacts and conversations" cannot be undone. Disconnecting does not delete data; only ticking that box does. Details: Disconnecting and deleting data.
The Renew permissions / Reconnect section
This section is not always visible. When health is Active it isn't drawn at all, because there is nothing to do. It has two forms:
Renew permissions
Appears when health is Renewal due. Its description depends on your connection path:
Instagram path: "Sign in to Instagram again with the same account. Permissions are renewed; the connection and data stay as they are."
Facebook path: "Sign in with Facebook again and keep the Page this account is linked to selected."
There is a single button and it uses the account's own path. You can't switch paths here; the goal is to refresh the existing connection.
Reconnect
Appears when health is Needs reconnecting. Its description: "Until it's reconnected, messages don't arrive and automations don't run. Sign in with the same Instagram account; your data stays as it is."
In this state, if the other path is also available, a second button shows up next to Reconnect: Connect with Instagram or Connect with Facebook. Below them sits a warning: each path runs on a separate Meta app, and changing the path also changes who can message the account. Read Changing the connection path before you switch.
If connecting isn't ready, a "Connecting is not ready yet" notice appears under the button; contact our Support team in that case.
💡 While reconnecting, only the same Instagram account is accepted. Sign in with a different one and the panel says "You signed in with a different account" and changes nothing. To connect another account, use the portfolio's Connect account screen.
The chat link and QR code
If the connection isn't cut, the page carries a box that builds the account's entry link. What it's for: whoever taps that link starts a DM with you. Put it on a business card, a poster, your website or a story.
The fields in the box:
Tag (ref) — an optional marker, for example poster-summer. The address and QR code below update as you type. With a tag, only the automation waiting for that tag runs, so you can tell how many people each poster brought in.
Link — the generated address. The copy button beside it puts it on the clipboard.
QR code — the QR code of the address. The Download QR code link under it saves an image you can send to print.
The address is built from your Instagram username. On an account connected through a Facebook Page, an address is built from the Page ID when the username can't be read.
Ice breakers and the persistent menu
This section manages the ready-made buttons a contact sees in the chat. Its heading reads "account name: ice breakers and menu". The values are read from Meta; if they can't be read, the list comes up empty.
Ice breakers
The ready-made questions shown on the chat screen when someone talks to your account for the first time.
You can add up to 4 questions.
Each question can be up to 80 characters.
Add question opens a new row, Remove question deletes one.
When someone taps a question, that text reaches your flows as a keyword. So set up a keyword trigger for each question; otherwise a tapped question goes unanswered.
Persistent menu
The menu that sits below the chat at all times.
You can add up to 5 rows.
Menu title is the row's visible name; up to 30 characters are saved.
Put a web address in the URL field and the row becomes a link that takes the contact to that page.
Leave the URL empty and the title text reaches your flow, exactly like an ice breaker, to be caught by a keyword trigger.
Add row and Remove row manage the list.
You write your changes with Save; the save goes straight to Meta and you see the "Ice breakers saved" notice. Empty the lists completely and save, and both the ice breakers and the menu are removed from your account.
A concrete example
You run a language school. On the connection page you define four ice breakers: "What are your prices?", "Which levels do you offer?", "Can I take a trial lesson?", "Where is your branch?". You add two rows to the persistent menu: one titled "Class schedule" linking to your website, and one without a URL reading "I want to enrol". Then you add keyword triggers that catch those texts to your automations. From now on everyone who writes to you knows what to ask on the first screen, and all four answers go out within seconds.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
Writing an ice breaker without a trigger. The contact taps the question and nothing happens. Add a keyword trigger for each ice breaker.
Writing a question longer than 80 characters. The excess isn't saved; shorten it.
Trying to add more than five menu rows. Meta accepts five; anything beyond that isn't saved.
Waiting when "Last event" never updates on the card. That is a sign events aren't arriving. Work through the checks in When a connection breaks.
Disconnecting while accidentally ticking "Also delete contacts and conversations". With that box ticked the data doesn't come back.
Trying to change the path while renewing permissions. The path choice is offered only when the connection is broken.
If a box on the page doesn't behave as you expect, see When a connection breaks or contact our Support team.