# Check Instagram Follow

Ask Instagram whether this person follows your account, so a later Condition step can route follower-only offers.

## Getting here

**Automate → Workflows**, open a workflow, click **+** on the canvas, then pick **Check Instagram Follow** under **Add Steps**.

## Before you start

- An **owner**, **admin** or **agent** can add this step and save the workflow. Publishing is an **owner** or **admin** action.
- Building and running workflows depends on your plan; see [pricing](/pricing).
- An Instagram account connected as a channel. On any other channel this step does nothing (see Limits).
- The person has to have already messaged you, tapped an ice-breaker, or tapped a menu item — Instagram will not answer before that (see How it works).

## Set up

1. Place this step after the point where the person has already messaged you, tapped an ice-breaker, or tapped a menu item — for example, after they reply to a **Private Reply to Comment** DM, not straight after the comment itself.
2. Add a **Condition** step after it, on **Follows your Instagram** is equal to **Yes**, and branch: the follower path on one lane, a “follow us, then tap again” message on the other.
3. Save the step, then publish the workflow.

## How it works

- The step reads Instagram's own answer to “does this person follow the account” and publishes it as **Follows your Instagram** for the Condition steps after it.
- It also reads whether the account follows them back, but nothing in the builder's Condition picker exposes that second fact today — it is set on the run but there is nothing to branch on from the picker.
- Instagram only answers once the person has consented — by sending a DM, tapping an ice-breaker, or tapping a menu item. A comment by itself is not that consent, which is why this is a step placed after the person has replied, not a check that can run straight off a comment.
- A read failure never blocks the flow: the fact is set to “not known” and the step reports why, so a Condition on it takes the **None** lane rather than the run stopping.

## When it fails

- The conversation is not on Instagram: the step is skipped — it does nothing and the run continues, with the follow fact left unset.
- Instagram cannot yet answer (the person has not messaged or tapped anything): the step fails, the follow fact is set to “not known”, and a Condition on **Follows your Instagram** takes its **None** lane rather than treating them as a non-follower.
- Instagram's API call itself fails (no working access token, a Graph error): the step fails the same way — “not known”, routed to the Condition's None lane — and the reason is in the workflow's **Activity** tab, under **Execution log**.

## Limits

- It only exists on Instagram. Any other channel type skips it outright — there is no equivalent follow check on WhatsApp, Messenger or any other channel.
- It cannot answer for someone who has never messaged the account, tapped an ice-breaker, or tapped a menu item — a “not known” result routes to the Condition's None lane, which is not the same as “does not follow”.
- It has no failure branch of its own: on a read failure the run simply continues to whatever step comes next in the same lane, carrying the “not known” fact forward.
- The reverse fact — whether the business follows them back — is read and stored on the run but is not offered anywhere in the Condition field picker, so a flow cannot branch on it directly.

## FAQ and troubleshooting

### I put this step right after the comment and it never has an answer. Why?

Instagram only answers once the person has messaged you, tapped an ice-breaker, or tapped a menu item — a comment alone is not consent. Put this step after their reply to your Private Reply DM, not straight after the comment.

### The Condition after it always takes the None lane. Is the check broken?

Not necessarily — a “not known” result (Instagram has not yet been given consent to answer, or the read failed) goes to the None lane the same way a real “no” or “yes” goes to its own lane. Check whether the person has actually messaged or tapped something first.

## Related

- [Private Reply to Comment](https://inchat.inseller.my/help/workflows/private-reply-to-comment)
- [Condition](https://inchat.inseller.my/help/workflows/condition)
- [Workflow triggers](https://inchat.inseller.my/help/workflows/workflow-triggers)

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Source files: `src/lib/workflows/ai-builder/spec.ts`, `src/lib/workflows/canvas-model.ts`, `src/components/workflows/WorkflowStepConfigDrawer.tsx`, `src/lib/workflows/ig-follow-action.ts`, `src/lib/workflows/condition-fields.ts`, `src/lib/workflows/condition-catalog.ts`