Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and comment automations

Store Console can answer your customers on Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, reply to comments on your posts, send a private message to people who comment, and follow up with shoppers who went quiet. This guide takes a new store from zero to a working setup and explains what Meta must allow for each part.

At a glance

Channel	What is automated	What Meta must allow	Where in admin
Messenger	AI or team answers to Page messages, greeting, offline line, follow-ups, missed-message sweep	Standard Access: people with a role on your app. Advanced Access (`pages_messaging`): every customer.	Social Hub → Inbox & AI agent
Instagram direct messages	Same as Messenger, for the Instagram account linked to your Page	Same as Messenger (`instagram_manage_messages`)	Social Hub → Inbox & AI agent
Facebook and Instagram comments	Sorting, suggested and automatic public replies, private replies, hide or delete by rule	Works with Standard Access	Social Hub → Comments and Automation Studio
WhatsApp	AI or team answers, order messages, cash-on-delivery confirmations, campaigns	A WhatsApp Business account, a permanent token and approved templates	Social Hub → WhatsApp and Inbox & AI agent

What Meta requires

Meta decides which messages reach your store, and the rule depends on the access level of your Meta app.

Standard Access (every new app has it). Meta delivers Messenger and Instagram direct-message webhooks only for people who have a role on the app (admin, developer or tester). Comments, and private replies to comments, work normally for everyone.
Advanced Access. Messages from every customer are delivered. It needs business verification and an App Review of the messaging permissions. App Review now expects the app to be a Tech Provider, which is a step you take once in your Meta business portfolio and cannot undo.
Today each store connects its own Meta app. Later Store Console will offer one shared Store Console app that is reviewed once for all stores, so a new store will only press Continue with Facebook.

While Advanced Access is pending you can still test everything by adding teammates as testers on the app, and you can turn on Check Messenger every minute (below) so real customer chats are not missed.

Set up step by step

1. Connect Facebook

Open Social Hub → Connections. Create a Business app at developers.facebook.com and copy each address shown on the page into it: OAuth redirect URI, webhook callback and verify token, deauthorize URL, data deletion URL, privacy policy, terms and app domain.
Save the App ID and App Secret. Store Console checks them with Meta.
Press Continue with Facebook while signed in as an admin of your Page, pick the Page (its linked Instagram account follows it), then press Subscribe the Page so messages and comments arrive at once.
Switch the Meta app to Live and check the Health card on the same page; every row should be green.

2. Inbox & AI agent

Open Social Hub → Inbox & AI agent and choose Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp at the top. Each source has its own settings.
Turn on Receive messages and choose Who answers: team only, or the AI (it waits for the team first during team hours).
Set the greeting, the offline line and the AI label, then save.

If you use Messenger, open the Messenger settings and press Send Page messages here; it connects the callback and the message fields for you.

3. Comment automation

Open Social Hub → Automation Studio → Recipes and pick Comment to DM. When someone comments a word such as "price" or "link", they get a private message and a public thank-you. Edit the words and texts, simulate it, then press Turn on.
Open Social Hub → Comments → Moderation and add one rule that hides comments containing links. It stops most spam without hiding real customers.
Open Social Hub → AI settings → How much the AI may do. Keep replies on Draft while you build trust (drafts wait in the Approval queue), then move to Auto within a daily limit.

Meta allows one private reply per comment, within 7 days of the comment.

4. WhatsApp

In Meta Business Settings create a system user, assign your WhatsApp account and generate a permanent token.
Paste it under Social Hub → Connections and press Save and find numbers, then pick the number customers message.
In Social Hub → WhatsApp create and submit your templates. Free-form replies work only inside 24 hours of the customer's last message; after that, only approved templates.

5. Team hours and handoff

In Inbox & AI agent, set when the team is on (your own hours or the HRM shift). During team hours the AI waits a few minutes for a person before it answers. When a customer asks for a person, or the AI cannot help, the AI pauses, the customer is told, and the team is alerted.

6. Follow-ups

One free reminder goes to a customer who looked at products and then went quiet, always inside the 24-hour window, never with a discount, and never after an order, a "no" or a handoff. If there is still no order after 72 hours the lead becomes a CRM task for your team.

7. Daily report

Once a day the inbox report goes to your Telegram chat: conversations, AI and team replies, follow-ups, orders placed in chat, who is still waiting, and how many Page conversations reached Store Console.

Check Messenger every minute

A switch on the Messenger tab of Inbox & AI agent, in the Past conversations section (key conversation_polling, off by default). When on, Store Console reads new Messenger chats every minute through the Graph Conversations API and handles them like webhook messages.

Turn it on while Meta has not approved Advanced Access, because Standard Access does not deliver customer messages by webhook.
Every message is matched by its Meta message id, so nothing is answered twice when a webhook arrives as well.
Turn it off once Advanced Access is approved and webhooks deliver everything live.

Test checklist

Add yourself as a tester or admin on the Meta app, then send a message to the Page from your personal account. It should appear in the inbox.
Check the answer arrives in Messenger with the AI label you set.
Comment "price" on a Page post from your own account. You should see the private message and the public reply (or a draft in the Approval queue).
Run Simulate and Test in Automation Studio before turning an automation on.
Send a WhatsApp message to your number and confirm the reply, then try a template.

Troubleshooting

What you see	Likely cause	Fix
Customer messages never arrive, but your own test does	Standard Access delivers only people with a role on the app	Turn on Check Messenger every minute, and apply for Advanced Access
Meta says "Invalid Scopes" or "URL blocked"	A permission or the redirect URI is missing in the app	Add the listed permissions under Use cases → Customize and paste the OAuth redirect URI under Facebook Login for Business → Settings
Nothing arrives at all	The Page is not subscribed, or the app is in development mode	Press Subscribe the Page and switch the app to Live
Reply shows "Not delivered"	More than 24 hours since the customer's last message	Answer from Meta Business Suite, or use an approved WhatsApp template
Private reply fails	Already sent for that comment, or older than 7 days	Reply publicly and invite the person to message the Page
The AI does not answer	Who answers is set to team only, the team is inside its wait, or Stop all AI actions is on	Check Inbox & AI agent and AI settings
Health shows a warning	A token expired or a permission was removed	Use the fix button on the Health card, or press Continue with Facebook again

Go-live checklist

The Meta app is Live and Health on the Connections page is green.
Receive messages is on for each source you use, and Who answers is chosen.
Team hours, greeting and offline line are set.
Check Messenger every minute is on until Advanced Access is approved.
Comment to DM and one moderation rule are on, with AI actions on Draft first.
WhatsApp templates are approved and the daily report reaches Telegram.
A teammate has tested each channel end to end from a personal account.