Send a Message

This document contains the requirements for sending freeform messages from your Instagram Professional account to your customers or people interested in your account using the Messenger Platform from Meta.

You can send a freeform message that contains:

• an image, video, gif, or audio
• a reaction or sticker
• text, including a link

Before You Start

This guide assumes you have read the Messenger Platform Overview and implemented the needed components such as a Facebook Page linked your Instagram Professional account (or test Page), registered as a Meta developer, and created a Business App ID with the Messenger > Instagram Messaging product in the App Dashboard.

You may also want to check the status of the Meta Developer Platform to ensure there are no issues.

Requirements

• The ID for the Facebook Page linked to your Instagram Professional account
• The Instagram-scoped ID for customer who sent your business a message
• A Page access token requested from a person who can perform the MESSAGE task on the Facebook Page linked to your Instagram Professional account
• The instagram_manage_messages permission

Limitations

• Apps with Standard Access can only send messages to people that have a role on the app
• Text message must be less than 1000 characters
• Media attachments can be:

For more information about media attachments, see Upload Media for Instagram Messaging.

Send a Basic Message

To send a message that contains text or a link, send a POST request to the /PAGE-ID/messages endpoint with the recipient parameter containing the Instagram-scoped ID (IGSID) and the message parameter containing the text or link.

Message text must be UTF-8 and be a 1000 bytes or less. Links must be valid formatted URLs.

Sample Request

Formatted for readability.

curl -i -X POST \
  "https://graph.facebook.com/LATEST-API-VERSION/me/messages?access_token=PAGE-ACCESS-TOKEN" \
  --data 'recipient={"id":"IGSID"}&message={"text":"TEXT-OR-LINK"}'

Sample API Response

Upon success, your app will receive the following JSON response:

{
  "recipient_id": "IGSID",
  "message_id": "MESSAGE-ID"
}

Send a Published Post

To send a message that contains a post you published to Instagram, send a POST request to the /PAGE-ID/messages endpoint with the recipient parameter containing the Instagram-scoped ID (IGSID) and the message parameter containing an attachment object with the type set to MEDIA_SHARE and payload containing the Meta ID for the post.

Your business must own the media to be used in the message.

Sample Request

curl -i -X POST \
  "https://graph.facebook.com/LATEST-API-VERSION/me/messages?access_token=PAGE-ACCESS-TOKEN" \
  --data 'recipient={"id":"IGSID"}&message={
      "attachment": 
        {
          "type":"MEDIA_SHARE", 
          "payload":{"id":"POST-ID"}
        }
}’

Sample API Response

Upon success, your app will receive the following JSON response:

{
  "recipient_id": "IGSID",
  "message_id": "MESSAGE-ID"
}

Send a Sticker

To send a heart sticker, send a POST request to the /PAGE-ID/messages endpoint with the recipient parameter containing the Instagram-scoped ID (IGSID) and the message parameter containing an attachment object with the type set to like_heart.

Sample Request

Formatted for readability.

curl -i -X POST \
  "https://graph.facebook.com/LATEST-API-VERSION/me/messages?access_token=PAGE-ACCESS-TOKEN" \
  --data 'recipient={"id":"IGSID"}&message={
      "attachment": 
        {
          "type":"like_heart"
        }
}’

Sample API Response

Upon success, your app will receive the following JSON response:

{
  "recipient_id": "IGSID",
  "message_id": "MESSAGE-ID"
}

React to a Message

To send a reaction, send a POST request to the /PAGE-ID/messages endpoint with the recipient parameter containing the Instagram-scoped ID (IGSID) and the sender_action parameter to react with the payload containing the message_id set to the ID for the message to apply the reaction to and reaction to love.

Sample Request

Formatted for readability.

curl -i -X POST \
  "https://graph.facebook.com/LATEST-API-VERSION/me/messages?access_token=PAGE-ACCESS-TOKEN" \
  --data 'recipient={"id":"IGSID"}&sender_action=react&payload={
      "message_id":"MESSAGE-ID",
      "reaction":"love",
}'

To remove a reaction from a message, send a POST request to the /PAGE-ID/messages endpoint with the recipient parameter containing the Instagram-scoped ID (IGSID) and the sender_action parameter to unreact with the payload containing the message_id set to the ID for the message from which to remove the reaction.

Sample Request

curl -i -X POST \
  "https://graph.facebook.com/LATEST-API-VERSION/me/messages?access_token=PAGE-ACCESS-TOKEN" \
  --data 'recipient={"id”:”IGSID”}&sender_action="unreact"&payload={
      “message_id":"MESSAGE-ID",
}'

Sample Response

Upon success, your app will receive the following JSON response for react and unreact requests:

{
  "recipient_id": "IGSID"
}

Next Steps

• Upload media such as audio, or image to Meta servers to be used in multiple messages.

• Send a structured message such as a generic template, a product template, or a persistent menu.

See Also

• Error Codes
• Rate Limits for Instagram Messaging
• Get the Media ID for your Media Assets