Connect Messenger and Instagram Direct to your AI closer

Your AI closer can answer the messages your Facebook Page (Messenger) and your Instagram professional account (Instagram Direct) receive, in your name. For now, the connection runs through your own Meta app, which you build with this guide and then submit to Meta for review. Every step below follows Meta's published documentation and tells you what you'll see on screen.

What you need: a personal Facebook account, a Facebook Page you're an admin of, an Instagram professional account linked to that Page (if you want Instagram Direct), and your business's official documents.

Meta will also ask for your website address (it must load over https), your privacy policy URL, and the URL of a page that explains how people can ask you to delete their data.

This guide has 24 steps in 5 parts. Take them in order, one at a time. If a screen doesn't match what's described here, stop and email us: Meta changes its screens often, and we'll walk you through it.

Part 1: Get your Page, your Instagram account and your business ready

Step 1. Check your access to the Page

• You need full control of your Facebook Page.
• Your Page and your Instagram professional account must sit in the same business portfolio. A business portfolio is where Meta keeps your business assets, inside Meta Business Suite.
• Meta notes that an Instagram account can only belong to one business portfolio at a time.

If your Page or your Instagram account is in a different portfolio, or in none, email us before going further.

Step 2. Connect your Instagram professional account to your Page

Skip this step if you only want Messenger. Otherwise, in the Instagram app on your phone:

1. Tap Profile or your profile picture in the bottom right.
2. Select Edit profile.
3. Business account: scroll to Public business information. Creator account: scroll to Profile information.
4. Tap Page, then Connect or create.
5. Tap Continue, then Login to Facebook, then Continue.
6. Choose your Page, then tap Connect.

If your Instagram account is still personal, Instagram will prompt you to switch to a professional account along the way. Good to know: once they're connected, anyone with access to either the Page or the Instagram account can manage both.

Step 3. Allow access to your Instagram messages

Meta requires this setting before any app can read and answer your Instagram messages. In the Instagram app, go to:

Settings > Messages and story replies > Message controls > Connected Tools > Allow Access to Messages

Turn it on.

Step 4. Start your business verification now

Meta won't complete its review for a business that isn't verified, and says a verification decision may take up to 14 business days. That's why we suggest starting it first.

On a computer:

1. In Meta Business Suite, open Security Center. If you can't get in, you may not have full control of the business portfolio.
2. Click Start verification. If you see Ineligible for verification, there's nothing to do here: Meta will email or notify you when it needs something.
3. Enter your legal business name, address, phone number and website exactly as they appear on your official documents. Your website must load, and its address must start with https://.
4. Confirm your details. If Meta can't find your business, select My business isn't listed or None of these match: Meta will then ask for official documents.
5. Choose how to confirm your connection to the business: email, phone, text message, WhatsApp message, or domain verification.
6. Confirm your connection, then click Done. You'll see a confirmation that Meta received your submission.

Documents Meta accepts. They must show your legal business name, plus your official mailing address or phone number:

• Certificate or Articles of Incorporation
• Business registration or license document
• Government-issued business tax document, such as a tax certificate (self-filed tax documents aren't accepted)
• Business bank statement
• Utility bill, accepted for your address and phone number only, not for your legal business name

Documents must be current and issued by the relevant authorities. Cover any personal information Meta doesn't need, such as a Social Security number. Heads up: if you edit your business details later, you'll need to verify again. This isn't Meta Verified, and it won't give you a badge.

Part 2: Create your Meta app

Step 5. Register as a Meta developer

1. While logged into your personal Facebook account, go to developers.facebook.com/async/registration (or click Get Started on developers.facebook.com).
2. Meta sends a confirmation code to the phone number and the email address you provide. Enter them.
3. Click Next to agree to Meta's Platform Terms and Developer Policies.
4. Pick the occupation that best describes what you do.

Step 6. Create the app

Go to developers.facebook.com/apps/creation. Meta takes you through five screens:

1. App details: an app name and a contact email you actually check. Meta reviews the name and icon against its trademark rules, so keep Facebook, Instagram and Messenger names and logos out of both. Click Next.
2. Use cases: select Engage with customers on Messenger from Meta. Don't add anything else: Meta doesn't let you remove a use case once the app exists. Click Next.
3. Business: pick your business portfolio, verified or not. You'll need this in Step 10. Click Next.
4. Requirements: Meta lists App Review here. Click Next.
5. Overview: check everything, then click Go to dashboard.

Step 7. Add the permissions

1. In the left menu, click Dashboard, then your use case.
2. Choose to customize it. Meta shows the list of permissions.
3. These are already included and can't be removed: business_management, pages_manage_metadata, pages_messaging, pages_show_list, public_profile.
4. Click Add next to pages_read_engagement.
5. If you use Instagram, also click Add next to instagram_basic and instagram_manage_messages. If you only use Messenger, leave them out: Meta's reviewers check that you only request what you need.

Step 8. Fill in the basic settings

Open Settings > Basic and fill in:

• App Icon: a square image between 512 x 512 and 1024 x 1024 pixels (Meta suggests 1024 x 1024 for review), under 5 MB, JPEG, GIF or PNG, with no Meta trademarks or logos. Your business logo works well.
• Privacy Policy URL: the page on your website. Meta shows it to people who grant your app permissions, and asks that it explain how to request data deletion.
• Data deletion: the URL of a page on your website that explains how to ask you to delete their data (Meta also accepts a technical callback URL, which you don't need here).
• Category: the one that best describes your app.
• Contact email: an address you check. Meta sends App Review updates there.
• If you do business in the European Union: your Data Protection Officer's contact details.

These pages are yours, in your business's name. Don't enter Rexor's.

Step 9. Copy your App Secret

Still in Settings > Basic, copy the value in the App Secret field. Keep it somewhere safe and never share it: you'll paste it in Step 16.

Part 3: Create your Page's permanent token

The Page access token is the key that lets your closer reply on behalf of your Page. For a token that doesn't expire, Meta offers a system user: a technical account in your business portfolio, built for software.

Step 10. Make sure the app is in your business portfolio

Meta only lets you add system users if you own an app that's associated with your business portfolio.

1. In Meta Business Suite, open Settings.
2. In the left menu, under Accounts, click Apps. Your app should be there if you picked your portfolio in Step 6.
3. If it isn't: click Add, then Connect an app ID, paste your app's ID (you'll find it in your app's Settings > Basic), and click Add app.

Meta notes that not every business has access to system users. If you don't see that menu in the next step, email us.

Step 11. Create a system user

1. In Meta Business Suite, go to Settings.
2. In the Users tab in the left sidebar, select System users.
3. Click Add new system user.
4. Give it a name (for example, "AI Closer"). Meta has two kinds, admin system users and regular system users: if Meta asks you to choose, pick Admin.
5. Click Create system user.

Step 12. Give it access to your Page and your app

With Assign assets, assign this system user:

• your Facebook Page, with full control
• your app

Step 13. Generate the system user's token

1. Click Generate new token.
2. Select your app.
3. If Meta asks for an expiration, choose the token that never expires. Meta also offers one that's valid for 60 days and has to be refreshed in time: don't pick that one.
4. Check these permissions: pages_show_list, pages_read_engagement, pages_manage_metadata, pages_messaging, business_management, plus instagram_basic and instagram_manage_messages if you use Instagram.
5. Click Generate token.
6. Copy the token right away and keep it safe: Meta only shows it once.

This isn't the token you'll paste yet. You'll use it to get your Page's token in the next step.

Step 14. Get your Page token and Page ID

1. Open Meta's Graph API Explorer: developers.facebook.com/tools/explorer.
2. In the upper right, under Meta App, select your app.
3. In the Access Token field in the upper right, replace the token shown with the one from Step 13.
4. In the query field, keep GET, type me/accounts, and submit the query.
5. The response lists the Pages assigned to your system user. For your Page, copy:

• the access_token value, which starts with EA. That's your Page access token.
• the id value, digits only. That's your Page ID.

To double-check the token, Meta's Access Token Debugger shows its type, expiration and permissions. We're happy to walk through this step with you.

Part 4: Connect your closer and try it

Step 15. Set up your app's webhook

The webhook is the address where Meta sends your customers' messages to your closer. On your setup page, in the Messenger and Instagram Direct section, Rexor shows two values unique to your business: the Callback URL (it starts with https://rexorcloser.com/api/c/) and the Verify token.

In your app dashboard:

1. Open your Messenger use case settings, under Messenger API Setup.
2. In the Configure webhooks section, paste the Callback URL and the Verify token from your setup page, then confirm. Meta sends a verification request to Rexor and shows you whether it went through.
3. Subscribe to the messages field, then save.
4. If you use Instagram: Meta says Instagram webhooks live under Instagram settings, in the Messenger part of the dashboard. Subscribe to the messages field there too.

The messages field is the only one you need. You don't have to subscribe your Page yourself: Rexor does it when you click Turn on Messenger or Turn on Instagram Direct (Step 16).

Step 16. Paste your three values on your setup page

In the Messenger and Instagram Direct section of your setup page:

1. Page access token (permanent): the access_token value from Step 14 (it starts with EA).
2. Page ID: the id value from Step 14 (digits only).
3. App secret: the value you copied in Step 9.
4. Click Connect Messenger and Instagram. The page shows Facebook Page connected with your Page's name.
5. Click Turn on Messenger, and Turn on Instagram Direct if you use it.

You can paste these values before Meta approves your app, to try your closer with the people who have a role on your app. If the page says no Instagram professional account is linked to your Page, go back to Step 2.

Step 17. Publish the app

Meta says your app must be published to receive messages, whether or not it has been through review. Publishing isn't Meta's approval: until your review is approved, your closer only answers people who have a role on the app.

1. In the left menu, click Publish.
2. Review your use cases and requirements. Meta requires the app icon, your privacy policy URL, your data deletion URL and, in the EU, your Data Protection Officer's contact details (Step 8).
3. Click Publish in the lower right.

Step 18. Try your closer with your own account

• Messenger: you're an admin of the app. From your personal Facebook account, send your Page a message. Your closer should reply in the conversation. If nothing comes back, email us and we'll check the connection with you.
• Instagram: Meta requires the person testing to have a role on the app, to have granted the requested permissions, and to have a role on the Instagram professional account. We'll help you set up this test.
• Other testers: roles are managed in the Roles section of the dashboard. If your app is connected to a business portfolio, Meta has you manage those roles from the business portfolio.
• In the dashboard, click Ready to test for your use case: Meta requires this before you can submit for review.

These tests also count toward your review: Meta requires at least one successful API call with each permission you request, made within the 30 days before you submit. Meta logs those calls within 2 days. If Meta also asks for a call with business_management, open the Graph API Explorer, paste the system user token (step 13) and run GET me/businesses: that's enough.

Part 5: Request Meta's review

Step 19. Request advanced access

Meta says advanced access is what lets your app receive messages from your customers, meaning people who don't have a role on your app.

1. Go to App Review > Permissions and Features.
2. Find pages_messaging and click Request advanced access.
3. If you use Instagram, do the same for instagram_manage_messages.
4. Meta lists the permissions these depend on: pages_manage_metadata and pages_show_list for pages_messaging; instagram_basic, pages_read_engagement and pages_show_list for instagram_manage_messages. Meta also asks you to call out business_management as a dependency in your submission. Add whatever Meta asks for, and nothing more.
5. Click Continue the Request.

The Request advanced access button stays grayed out until Meta has logged a successful call (Step 18). Give it up to 2 days.

Step 20. Finish business verification and answer the data questions

• If your verification from Step 4 isn't done yet, Meta prompts you to start, continue or finish it. Meta says your business must be verified to complete App Review.
• If it's already approved, Meta may ask data handling questions. Meta evaluates your answers right away.

Step 21. Confirm your app settings

In Complete App Settings, check:

• your App Icon and Privacy Policy URL (Step 8)
• App Purpose: select Yourself or your own business. Meta reserves this for apps only used by people with a role on the app or in the business that owns it, which is your case: your customers message your Page, they don't use your app.
• your App Category
• your Primary Contact: an email address you check, since Meta sends its decision there

Step 22. Tell Meta how to test

In Complete App Verification:

• Your customers don't sign in to your app to message you, so answer the question about logging in with Meta accordingly.
• In Platform Settings, for Instagram, Meta suggests choosing Website with your business's website URL and leaving the credentials section blank.
• Explain how to test, for example: "Send any message to our Facebook Page [Page name] on Messenger, or a Direct message to @[account] on Instagram. Our AI closer replies in the same conversation."
• Never include your personal Facebook or Instagram login: Meta prohibits it.

Step 23. Describe each permission and upload the videos

Under Requested Permissions and Features, open each permission, describe how you use it and upload its screen recording. Meta wants a different description for each permission (no copy and paste) that answers four questions: how it helps your app's users, why your app needs it, how your app uses the data, and why your app would be less useful without it.

Here are two templates to adapt. Replace everything in brackets, and make sure every sentence is true for your business and matches your privacy policy.

Template for pages_messaging

[Business name] uses this app only for its own Facebook Page, [Page name].
The app is an automated experience. When a customer sends a message to our
Page on Messenger, the app receives it through the messages webhook, and our
AI sales closer, provided by our software vendor Rexor, replies in the same
conversation. It answers questions about our products and services, prices,
availability and next steps, and can share links, photos or videos about our
offer.

Replies are sent only as responses, within the 24-hour standard messaging
window. The app never starts a conversation and sends no follow-up after that
window. Without pages_messaging, the app could not reply, and customers who
write to our Page would not get an answer.

To test: send any message to [Page name] on Messenger, for example
"Hi, what are your prices?".

Message content is used only to reply to the customer, as described in our
privacy policy: [privacy policy URL]. The app uses a system user of our
business portfolio to access our own Page: business_management, pages_show_list
and pages_manage_metadata are requested as dependencies of pages_messaging.

Template for instagram_manage_messages (choose Automated as the primary experience, and enter your Instagram handle)

[Business name] uses this app only for its own Instagram professional account,
@[account], linked to our Facebook Page [Page name]. Primary experience:
Automated.

When a customer sends us a Direct message, the app receives it through the
Instagram messages webhook, and our AI sales closer, provided by our software
vendor Rexor, replies in the same conversation, within the 24-hour standard
messaging window. It answers questions about our offer, prices and
availability, and can share links, photos or videos. The app does not use quick
replies, ice breakers or generic templates. Without instagram_manage_messages,
the app could not read or answer the Direct messages our customers send us.

To start a conversation: send a Direct message to @[account], for example
"Hi, is this available?".

Message content is used only to reply to the customer, as described in our
privacy policy: [privacy policy URL]. This permission depends on
instagram_basic, pages_read_engagement, pages_show_list and
business_management, requested for the same use.

The videos. Meta wants one screen recording per permission, showing the permissions being granted and how your app uses them. Meta's rules: 1080 or higher, your monitor set to 1440 pixels wide or less, the interface in English, captions that explain each button, mouse rather than keyboard, a bigger cursor, only the relevant window, and no audio (reviewers won't listen). The app you record must be the app you submit. A run-through to adapt:

Video 1, for pages_messaging:

1. A title card: your business name and "AI closer replying to customers on our Facebook Page".
2. In Meta Business Suite, your system user with your Page and app assigned, and the list of checked permissions. Never show a token or your App Secret.
3. Messenger, open on an account that has a role on the app: send your Page a real customer question.
4. Your closer's reply arriving in the conversation. Ask a second question and show that reply too.
5. A short caption at each step explaining what's happening.

Video 2, for instagram_manage_messages (Meta asks to see these points):

1. How to start a conversation: a Direct message sent to your Instagram account from a test account.
2. How the app handles that message: your closer's reply in the conversation.
3. How it handles rich media: send a photo and show what happens next.
4. What happens when the customer unsends a message.
5. Captions at each step.

Step 24. Submit

Click Submit for Review and accept Meta's terms. Meta says you should receive a decision within a week. Don't change your app settings after you submit: Meta warns that changes may require another review.

During the review

• If you've already pasted your three values (Step 16), your closer answers people who have a role on your app, so you can keep testing it with your own account.
• Everyone else who messages your Page or your Instagram account won't get a reply from your closer yet.
• Meta emails the app's primary contact (Step 21). Business verification may take up to 14 business days, and Meta notifies you when it's done.
• Meta decides, with no guarantee. Email us anytime: we follow your request with you.

After Meta approves

• Your closer answers everyone on Messenger and Instagram Direct. If you haven't pasted your three values yet, do it now (Step 16): the channel opens.
• Keep the app published, and keep the system user and its access to your Page: without them, your closer can't reply.
• Each year, Meta asks apps with advanced access to complete a Data Use Checkup.

If Meta says no

• If business verification is rejected. Meta's listed reasons include false or misleading information, claiming a business you're not authorized to represent, trying to get around the review, or a website that won't load, isn't https, or links to an error page. Meta says you may be able to appeal: check Security Center.
• If App Review is rejected. Permissions that aren't approved only work for people with a role on the app, so your closer keeps answering those people only.
• Either way, you keep all your other channels, and you can pick another messaging channel instead: the Disconnect button on your setup page frees up the slot. We'll go over Meta's answer with you and whether it's worth submitting again.

FAQ

Is this included in my plan? Yes. Messenger and Instagram Direct are open in early access on Growth. On Starter, each one needs the Extra messaging channel option ($49 a month).

Does Meta charge for these messages? No. Meta says its Messenger Platform, which also carries Instagram messages, is free to use, and that businesses aren't charged for replies sent within the 24-hour window. Meta separately sells marketing messages: your closer doesn't use them.

Can my closer follow up with a customer who went quiet? No. That's Meta's rule: your closer replies within 24 hours of the customer's last message and sends no automatic follow-up after that. As soon as the customer writes again, the conversation picks back up.

Is every type of business allowed? No. Meta's Developer Policies prohibit using Messenger or Instagram Direct to facilitate direct conversations between people and healthcare providers, to sell digital goods, or to ask people for card or financial account numbers, among other rules. Meta also requires people's consent before you contact them: your closer only replies to people who message you. If you're not sure about your business, email us before you start.

Why does Meta need to verify my business? Meta requires it before granting advanced access, which is what lets your closer reply to your customers. You do it once, in Meta Business Suite's Security Center (Step 4). Meta says it may take up to 14 business days.

Can I use only Instagram, or only Messenger? Yes. Messenger and Instagram Direct are turned on separately on your setup page. For Instagram Direct, Meta always goes through the Facebook Page linked to your Instagram account, so you still need the Page. Only request the permissions for the channel you use.

My closer stopped replying on Messenger or Instagram. What now? Meta says a long-lived Page token has no expiration date but can be invalidated in certain cases. Email us: we'll check the token, the webhook and, for Instagram, message access (Step 3) with you. If needed, you create a new token (Steps 13 and 14) and paste it on your setup page again.

What happens once Rexor's app is approved? Connecting will take a few clicks, with nothing for you to file. We don't have a date: Meta decides. We'll email you when it's ready.