Get started with Auto-DM
What Auto-DM does, who can use it, and how to connect or disconnect your Instagram account.
- auto-dm
- connect
Auto-DM answers people on Instagram for you. When someone comments a keyword on your post, DMs you a keyword, replies to your story or mentions you, Auto-DM sends them a direct message with a button to a link in your community: a free guide, a form, an event, a product, a booking page and so on. Then it shows you who tapped, who signed up, who joined and who paid.
It lives in the sidebar under Grow, then Auto-DM, next to Bio Link & Store. The page has two tabs: Auto-replies and People.
Who can use it
The owner and admins. Editors do not see Auto-DM, because the Instagram connection belongs to the whole community and the People list names real people. It is on every plan, with limits on Free. See Auto-DM plans and limits.
Connect your Instagram
Make sure it is a professional account
Auto-DM needs an Instagram Creator or Business account. Both are free; a personal account can switch in the Instagram app.
Open Auto-DM and press Connect
In Connect your Instagram, press Connect. You sign in on Instagram itself; Drry never sees your password.
Allow comments and messages
Approve every permission Instagram asks for. Auto-DM needs both comments and messages to work. When it is done you see Connected as @yourhandle.
Turn on message access in the Instagram app
The connected card has a short delivery checklist, including Allow access to messages in Instagram's settings. Test from a second Instagram account: a comment on your own post from your own account will not trigger anything.
One Instagram account can be connected to one community at a time. If it is already on another community, you are told so.
Auto-DM will answer comments and DMs that use your keywords, send a link to your community, and count taps, opens and signups. It will never like or follow anyone, post to your feed or stories, or message anyone who sent STOP.
Settings on the connected card
When you reply yourself: when you answer someone by hand in Instagram, Auto-DM steps back from that person For 1 hour, For 24 hours (the default) or Until I resume.
Email me if it goes quiet: an email if Drry stops hearing from Instagram.
Email me when a post takes off: an email when one post sends 25 DMs in an hour, at most once a day per post. Growth only.
If the connection needs attention, the card says Needs attention or Disconnected with a Reconnect button.
Disconnect
Press Disconnect on the connected card and confirm. Replies stop straight away. Your auto-replies, settings and numbers stay, so reconnecting picks up where you left off.
With your AI assistant
If you connected Claude or ChatGPT, it can read your auto-replies and their numbers, write drafts, edit them, put them live once you confirm, pause them, change inbox settings and send a broadcast after showing you a preview. It never sees anyone's username, and connecting Instagram stays in the console. See What an assistant can do.
Common questions
Do I need a professional Instagram account?
Yes, Creator or Business. Both are free to switch to in the Instagram app.
Can my editor set it up?
No. Auto-DM is for the owner and admins only.
Does it read people's messages?
It checks incoming comments and DMs for your keywords, but Drry does not show you the text of what people wrote. You see their handle, what Auto-DM did and why.