Follow to unlock: the link arrives once they follow
Free for 7 days, no credit card required
Follow to unlock (a follow gate) sends your link only to people who follow you. A card with Visit profile and I’m following goes in the DM; Instagram tells us if they follow at their tap, and the link or code goes out the moment they do. Anyone who already follows you gets it at once.
- Meta's official API, no password, nothing installed
- Unlimited contacts on every plan
- AI replies in your customer's language
- From $29 a month
Four moments in their DMs, one more follower
From the comment to the unlocked code, on Instagram’s own rules.
- 01
They comment your keyword
Someone comments LINK under your reel, post or ad, and the private reply goes to their DMs in seconds.
One private reply per comment, as Meta allows
- 02
One tap opens the chat
The private reply is a short line and one button. Their tap opens the chat, so everything after it can follow at once.
Typing anything counts as the tap
- 03
Instagram says if they follow
At the tap, Instagram tells us whether they follow you. A follower gets the link straight away and is never asked.
Followers skip the ask
- 04
Follow, tap, unlocked
Everyone else gets the follow card. When Instagram confirms the follow, the link or the code goes out.
Counted as followed in the automation’s results
Strict, generous or in between
Decide what someone who has not followed gets, and how many times they are asked.
If they tap but do not follow
Your choice per automation. The labels are the app’s.
- Keep askingOnly ever a follower
Asks again on every tap until Instagram says they follow. It is what people expect: the link only ever goes to a follower.
- Ask 2 more, then sendA few more asks, then the link
After the number of extra asks you set, the link goes out even to someone who does not follow.
Up to 5 more asks in comment to DM
- Ask 2 more, then stopA few more asks, then nothing
After the extra asks, nothing more is sent: someone who does not follow never gets the link.
- Send anywayAsk once, never block
The link goes on the first tap, follower or not. The ask still turns some people into followers.
The words they see
Every line is yours to rewrite, in your page’s language.
- The askThe follow card
A card with your line and two buttons: Visit profile opens your Instagram profile, I’m following is the tap we check.
Up to 160 characters: a card holds 80 in bold and 80 under it
- If they are not following yetThe friendly second line
Sent with the same buttons when they tap before following. A fresh follow can take a minute to show, so it invites them to tap again.
- Start with an opening messageThe short first message
A short line and one button go first, so the follow question can be answered at the tap and a follower is never asked to follow.
This is the one private reply Meta allows per comment
In the flow builder
The same gate as a step, with conditions around it. See the Ask to follow step.
- Ask to followA step on the canvas
Checks they follow you before the flow goes on. Two ways out: they follow you, or they still have not after the asks.
Instagram only; it goes after the private reply
- Ask at mostOnce, twice or 3 times
How many times the card goes before the flow takes the not-following way, where you can send the link anyway or stop.
Twice by default
- Follows youA condition
Send followers one thing and everyone else another, without asking anyone: Instagram tells us when they message you. See conditions.
Also: You follow them, Follower count
- Follow to get the linkA ready template
A comment start, the follow ask and the link, already wired: open it from the flow templates and fill in your link.
Instagram templates only
Two switches in the comment to DM editor
Switch on “Ask them to follow first”, keep the words or write your own, and the preview beside it shows exactly what lands in their DMs.
- The opening message
- The tap that lets Instagram answer the follow question, so followers go straight through.
- Then the email
- Add the email ask after the link, and the new follower becomes a lead too.
- The ask and its buttons
- Your line, Visit profile and I’m following, counted against the 160 characters a card holds.
- If they tap but do not follow
- Keep asking, ask a few more times, or send anyway.
What Instagram allows and reports
The numbers behind the gate, and who sets each one.
| What | The limit | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| Where it works | Instagram. Facebook does not say who follows a Page, so the gate is off on Messenger | |
| When Instagram answers | Only after the person taps or writes, so the check comes after the private reply | |
| The private reply | One per comment, up to 7 days after the comment | |
| The follow card | 160 characters: 80 in the title, 80 under it, two buttons | |
| Extra asks | Up to 5 in comment to DM; once, twice or 3 times in a flow | CommentWatchDog |
| When Instagram does not say | The card goes once more; if it still does not say, they go on as a follower would. Unknown is never “not following” | CommentWatchDog |
Sources: Meta’s Instagram Messaging API (private replies, the user profile’s follow fields, the generic template). Checked against the live API on 2026-10-05.
Questions about the follow gate
Short answers before you start.
Yes. Switch on “Ask them to follow first” in comment to DM, or put an Ask to follow step in a flow. When they tap I’m following, Instagram tells us whether they do, and the link or code goes out once they follow.
No. The private reply starts with a short opening message and one button. Their tap lets Instagram answer the follow question, so a follower gets the link straight away.
They get a friendly second line with the same buttons, asking them to follow and tap again. You choose what happens after that: keep asking, ask a set number of times and then send or stop, or send anyway.
No. Facebook does not tell apps who follows a Page, so the gate is Instagram only. A Facebook comment to DM sends the link without it.
It uses Meta’s official Instagram API: one private reply per comment, buttons Instagram supports, and the follow status Instagram itself reports. Nothing is installed and no password is shared.
No tool can through Meta’s official API: Instagram sends no event when someone follows you. Follow to unlock works the other way round: people who comment or message you are asked to follow before the link.
Every automation counts the people who followed to get the link, per day, in its results and in the flow’s insights.