If messages sent to your Instagram or WhatsApp account never reach the inbox, check the connection status, the webhook subscription and your filters in order.
A customer writes to you on Instagram or WhatsApp, your phone shows the notification, but the conversation is nowhere to be found in the {{brand.name}} inbox. This almost always comes down to one of three things: the account's connection has dropped, Meta's event subscription has lapsed, or the message did arrive and you simply cannot see it. Work through the checks below in order.
⚠️ Note: First make sure you are looking at the right account. A portfolio can hold several Instagram and WhatsApp accounts, and each one has its own inbox. Use in the account picker at the top to move to the account the message was sent to.
Switch account
You may be seeing one of these situations:
No messages arrive on any account.
Messages stop on one account only.
Messages arrive, but some are missing.
Messages arrive and you cannot see them.
A concrete example: a bakery notices on Saturday morning that no order messages have come in. Looking at Instagram they can see the DMs are there, so nothing is wrong on the customer's side. In the panel, the Last event line on Settings › Connection shows two days ago: the webhook subscription has lapsed. They press Renew webhook subscription and the waiting conversations drop into the inbox within seconds. The lesson: an Active badge does not mean events are arriving; the two need checking separately.
Check the connection status
When an account's connection drops, Meta stops sending us events. Nothing turns red in the panel; conversations simply go quiet.
Switch to the account the message should have arrived on.
Open Settings › Connection.
Look at the badge in the Connection status box. It shows one of three values: Active, Renewal due, Needs reconnecting.
If it says Needs reconnecting, press Reconnect and sign in with the same Instagram or WhatsApp account. If you sign in with a different one, the panel says a different account was used and stops.
Read the reason line under the badge. "Access permission is invalid", "The app permission was removed on Meta's side" or "The access token could not be renewed" all mean the problem is on Meta's side and only reconnecting fixes it.
While the connection is broken, the inbox also shows a banner: this account's connection has dropped, and messaging and automations will not work properly until you reconnect.
If the connection looks Active but nothing arrives, the event subscription has most likely lapsed. The webhook is the channel Meta uses to tell us about every new message the moment it happens; if the subscription lapses, the connection stays valid but the news never reaches us.
On Settings › Connection, look at the Last event line. It shows when we last received anything. An old timestamp means the subscription has lapsed.
Press Renew webhook subscription.
Wait for the confirmation that the subscription was renewed.
To test, send a message to your account from another phone and refresh the inbox.
If you get "The subscription could not be renewed. Try reconnecting the account.", disconnect the account completely and set the connection up again.
Turn on message access on Instagram
Instagram makes third-party access to messages something the account owner has to switch on. While that switch is off, the connection is created and permissions are granted, but no messages flow.
Open the Instagram app on your phone.
On your profile, go to Settings and activity → Messages and story replies → Message controls.
Turn on Connected tools (in some versions "Allow access to messages" from third-party apps).
Confirm your account is a professional account (Business or Creator). Meta's messaging API does not work at all on personal accounts.
Come back to the panel and press Renew webhook subscription.
⚠️ Note: This setting lives on Instagram's side and applies to every tool that uses Meta's API; while it is off, no panel anywhere can see your messages.
Make sure the channel is enabled on your plan
Instagram and WhatsApp can be switched on and off separately. If a channel is disabled on your plan, that account does not appear in lists, no messages arrive and it cannot be selected in automations. Nothing is deleted: when the channel is enabled again, everything reappears.
If an action returns "This channel is disabled on this portfolio's plan", this is what is happening.
The portfolio owner can upgrade under My user settings › Plan and invoices.
If the portfolio is scheduled for deletion, every account is closed; see the portfolio is locked.
Messages arrive but you cannot see them
The messages may be stored fine; the problem can be the list filter or the visibility your role has.
Set the filter at the top of the inbox to All. With Mine, Unread or Closed selected, the list is narrow by design.
Set the channel filter to All channels.
Clear the search box.
If your role is Agent, by default you only see the conversations assigned to you. The portfolio owner can widen that scope under Portfolio settings › Chat assignment rules.
If a conversation says you are not allowed to view it, the problem is permissions, not the connection.
Comments do not open a conversation. A comment on a post does not create a thread in the inbox; only an automation with a comment trigger runs, and a conversation starts if it sends a private reply.
Story mentions and ad clicks do not open the window either. Until the person messages you directly, you cannot send a free-form message.
If a WhatsApp number runs alongside the phone app, chats appear both on the phone and in the panel; on numbers that run only through the panel, the phone app will not show them.
Meta delays. At busy times Meta can hold events back by a few minutes. The inbox refreshes itself; you do not need to keep reloading the page.
In a portfolio scheduled for deletion, accounts are disconnected and no messages arrive.
If you have followed every step and the problem continues, contact our Support team.