Another tool is replying to my comments

If you’ve seen a banner across the top of Dartzo saying Another DM automation tool is connected to this Instagram account, this page is for you. It explains what that means, why it costs you DMs, and the short list of things to do about it. Account requirements covers the rule in brief; this page goes into how the warning works.

Why two tools fight

When someone comments on your post, Instagram allows you to send them one automatic reply to that comment, and only one. It’s one per comment, not one per tool. If two automation tools are connected to the same account, both see the comment, both try to answer it, and whichever gets there second is refused. That refusal is permanent for that comment, and no retry can recover it.

The cruel part is that Instagram doesn’t say why. The refusal comes back as a plain server error, so the DM that didn’t arrive looks like a Dartzo fault. In the one account where we first measured it, every failed DM was a comment the other tool had already answered.

It isn’t a settings problem on your side, and it isn’t something to fix inside Dartzo. Dartzo keeps running and keeps winning the races it wins. You lose only the comments the other tool answers first.

How you’d notice

• Some comments on a post get a DM within seconds and others, matching the same keyword, get nothing.
• The misses show in your Queue as failed · unknown_error.
• Rewording the keyword or rebuilding the automation changes nothing.
• Someone who didn’t get your DM often did get a message, from the other tool.

The reason shown beside each failure is explained in the Error reference. Note that unknown_error has other causes too, which is why the banner matters: it’s the one thing that tells you a second tool is the reason.

How Dartzo notices

Dartzo can’t see your other tools directly. What it sees is what your own account sends. A message with buttons can only be sent by an automation tool, never by a person typing in the Instagram app. Every button Dartzo sends carries our own marker, so when a message with buttons goes out from your account carrying a marker that isn’t ours, that’s strong evidence another tool is sending from it. We then show the warning.

Two things follow from that, and both are deliberate:

• We don’t name the other tool. The detection is an inference, and good enough to warn you, but not good enough to accuse a named product in front of a customer.
• It can miss a tool. If the other tool only sends plain text with no buttons, Dartzo has nothing to recognise. No banner doesn’t prove no other tool, so if you’ve got the symptoms above and no banner, check your tools yourself.

What the banner does and doesn’t do

• It never blocks anything. Your automations keep running while it’s up.
• It appears on every page of the web app, not only the dashboard, because the problem costs you DMs wherever you’re looking.
• It stays only while the other tool is active. Dartzo re-checks as the other tool keeps sending. After two days with no further sign of it, the banner goes away by itself.
• It’s on the web app. The phone app doesn’t show it, so don’t rely on the phone to tell you.

What to do

1. 1
   Decide which tool you’re keeping

   Only one comment-to-DM tool can work properly on an account. Pick one. Running two always loses messages.
2. 2
   Turn off the other tool’s automations

   In the other tool, pause or delete every automation that watches comments, and disconnect your Instagram account from it. Turning off one automation isn’t always enough if another is still active.
3. 3
   Remove it on Instagram too

   The other tool may still hold its own connection. Open Instagram → Settings and privacy → Apps and websites and remove whichever one you’re not keeping. Don’t remove Dartzo by mistake if Dartzo is the one you’re keeping.
4. 4
   Tell Dartzo you’ve done it

   Press I’ve removed the other tool on the banner. It’s optional, but it clears the warning right away instead of waiting two days.
5. 5
   Check the next comments

   Comment on your own post with your keyword from a second account, or watch the next real ones in the Queue. Rows should be sent, not failed · unknown_error.

If you’ve removed it and the banner comes back

Then something is still sending from your account. Check the other tool for automations you forgot (older posts, story or DM keyword automations), and check Instagram’s Apps and websites list again. Anyone else who manages the account, such as an assistant or an agency, may have connected a tool too.

If it’s two of your own Dartzo automations

That’s different. Two Dartzo automations that match the same comment don’t fight: Dartzo picks one. See Which automation wins.