A DM with buttons, quick replies and variations
Free for 7 days, no credit card required
The Message step sends a text DM on Instagram or Messenger with up to three buttons and thirteen quick replies, each its own way on the canvas, and up to five versions picked at random per person. Need more than text? Send a carousel, a file, or ask and wait for the answer.
- Meta's official API, no password, nothing installed
- Unlimited contacts on every plan
- AI replies in your customer's language
- From $29 a month
What happens when it goes out
Typing dots, one of your versions, and a way out for every tap.
- 01
Typing first, then the words
Before a message goes out, they see typing dots for about a second and a half, the way a person replies.
- 02
One of five ways to say it
Write up to five versions. Each person gets one at random, so a busy post never sends the same words a thousand times.
- 03
A tap leads its own way
Every button and quick reply is a way out on the canvas. A tap runs the step connected to it.
- 04
Typed words count as the tap
Someone who types a button’s words instead of tapping goes the same way. Capitals, spaces and emoji are ignored.
How people on Instagram’s website, which shows no buttons, still get through
Everything in the Message panel
Each setting with its limit, and the Meta rule behind it.
What it says
The words, the ways to say them, and what fills in.
- MessageThe text
Up to 1,000 characters on Instagram and 2,000 on Messenger, or 640 when the message carries buttons. Instagram counts characters, not bytes: a 500-letter Arabic message went through in a live test.
Meta: 1,000 characters on Instagram, 2,000 on Messenger, 640 above buttons
- Add variationWays to say it
Up to five versions of one message, the text plus four. “Each person gets one of these at random.”
CommentWatchDog: 5 variations
- Their name and answers
Write {{first_name}}, {{username}}, an answer they gave or a field you keep, and it fills in at send time. A filled-in name that pushes the text past Meta’s limit is shortened at a word, never sent broken.
What they can tap
Buttons and quick replies, each its own way out.
- ButtonsUp to three buttons
Up to three. “A button opens a link or leads to the next step you connect it to.”
Meta: 1 to 3 buttons, labels up to 20 characters
- Quick repliesUp to 13 quick replies
“Up to 13 taps under the message. Each one leads to its own step, and they disappear once one is tapped.” The tap is posted as their message.
Meta: 13 quick replies, 20 characters each
- Both on one message
Buttons and quick replies can sit on the same message: Meta accepted it on Instagram and on Messenger in a live test.
- Every click counted
A link button opens a tracked short link for each person, so Insights counts every click, per button.
When it is sent
- Inside the 24-hour window
A message needs the chat open: they wrote, tapped or replied in the last 24 hours. Each send is checked at that moment and is never attempted after the window closes.
Meta: automated messages only within 24 hours of their last message
- On the app and the web
Buttons and quick replies show in the Instagram app. People reading on Instagram’s website see the text only, and typing a button’s words still works.
Meta: buttons and quick replies are not shown on Instagram’s website
- Older taps still work
A tap on a message from earlier in the chat still knows where it leads: every tap is signed with its step.
- No dead ends
A button or quick reply with nothing connected ends the flow there, and the builder warns you before it goes live.
After the chat is open
Messages need an open chat, so on a comment start they come after the private reply’s tap.
The Message step, as you set it
The step selected on the canvas and its panel open: the text with its 640-character count, Add variation and Write 2 more with AI, and the buttons, each going to a step or opening a link.
- Buttons
- Up to 3, each a link or a way on.
- Quick replies
- Up to 13, each its own step.
- Add variation
- Up to 5 ways to say it.
Every number, and who sets it
Meta’s limits, and the one CommentWatchDog adds.
| What | The limit | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| Text on Instagram | 1,000 characters | |
| Text on Messenger | 2,000 characters | |
| Text above buttons | 640 characters | |
| Buttons | 3 per message, labels up to 20 characters | |
| Quick replies | 13 per message, 20 characters each | |
| Ways to say it | 5 per message | CommentWatchDog |
| When it can be sent | Within 24 hours of their last message |
Meta's numbers are from the Messenger Platform and Instagram Messaging references, checked against live sends on Instagram and Messenger on 2026-10-05.
Questions people ask
Short answers before you start.
Up to three, the most Meta allows. Each one opens a link or leads to the next step you connect it to, and each label is up to 20 characters.
Yes. Meta accepted buttons and quick replies on the same message on Instagram and on Messenger in a live test, and the builder lets you add both.
Buttons stay on the message: each opens a link or leads to its step, and can be tapped later. Quick replies are chips under the message that disappear once one is tapped, and the tapped words are posted as their message. Both lead their own way on the canvas.
No. Instagram’s quick replies are saved texts you type with a shortcut in your inbox. These are tap chips the automation sends under its message.
Up to 1,000 characters on Instagram and 2,000 on Messenger. A message with buttons is up to 640. Instagram counts characters, so Arabic, accents and emoji are not cut short.
Yes. {{first_name}}, {{username}} and every answer or field you saved fill in when it is sent, and a Condition before it can send different people different messages.
About a second and a half of typing dots goes before each message, so it reads like a person replying.
Only while the chat is open: within 24 hours of the person’s last message, tap or story reply. That is Meta’s rule for automated messages. A comment opens no chat, so a flow that starts on a comment sends a private reply first.