If your messages aren't going out, or a campaign seems to have stopped mid-send, here's what's likely happening and what to do about it.
Why messages slow down or pause
Instagram limits how many messages an account can send in a given window. The most relevant one for automation is the automated-DM rate limit: up to 200 automated DMs per hour, per account. Meta cut this from 5,000 to 200 in October 2024, so it's lower than many people expect.
When you reach the ceiling, Inrō queues the rest and keeps sending as the hour resets. Nothing is lost, and there's no ban risk, because Inrō uses the official Instagram API. This is normal, especially on high-volume days like a viral post driving comment triggers.
What Inrō does automatically
You don't need to manage rate limits yourself. Inrō paces sends in the background:
Campaigns go out in batches of 1,000 contacts, spaced to stay within Instagram's limits. Large campaigns take longer depending on your account's history and current load.
Scenarios run almost instantly in most cases. If a step looks delayed, it's often because an earlier message in the same conversation hasn't been delivered yet.
For the full sending limits on individual message actions, see Message Actions: text, media, files, and buttons.
How to check whether messages are actually stuck
Go to Campaigns in the left sidebar.
Find the campaign. If it's still going, the status shows Sending with a progress percentage.
Click View results to see how many messages were sent, how many failed, and how many are still queued.
For a scenario, open the conversation in the Inbox. If you can see the message in the thread but it shows as undelivered, the issue is on Instagram's side, not in your setup.
What to do
Still showing "Sending": Give it time. Large sends take a while. If it hasn't moved in several hours, contact support.
Some contacts show "Failed": Those contacts usually have DMs turned off or have blocked you. They genuinely can't receive your message, and there's nothing to fix.
The campaign shows "Paused": On capped plans this happens when you hit your activated-contacts limit. See My campaign is stuck or not sending for the full status breakdown.
🐾 Netsuke's Tips
If you're building up a newer Instagram account, start with smaller campaigns and grow gradually. This helps your account build a healthy sending history with Meta.
Campaigns work best with contacts who already know you. Sending the same message to thousands of people who've never interacted with you invites more failures.
Contacts with a failed status usually have DMs restricted. You can track them in a folder, but there's no way to force a DM through.
⚠️ If the issue persists
Reach out to our support team with the campaign name and a screenshot of the results page. We'll take a look.