DM request

Why it matters for creators

The requests folder is where most unsolicited messages quietly die, and understanding that explains a lot about why DM automation works the way it does.

For messages you receive, it is a filter worth actually checking. Real inbound — someone asking about your offer, a genuine enquiry — lands in requests routinely because they do not follow you yet, and Instagram gives it no notification weight. Accounts that only read their main inbox miss the exact conversations they most wanted.

For messages you send, it is the reason cold DMs do not work even when a tool can send them. A cold message lands in a stranger's requests folder alongside everything else, unread and unannounced. An automated reply to somebody who just commented on your post does not: because they engaged first, the reply arrives as part of a conversation they started, in the main inbox, where it gets read.