If an agent is not responding to prospects, it is almost always one of these. Check them in order; the first few cover most cases, and several of them are the agent working exactly as designed.
The prospect hasn't tapped the opt-in button
For comment, story, and ad triggers, the sales conversation starts when the prospect taps the button in your opt-in message. If they commented and even typed a reply but never tapped, the agent is politely waiting, on purpose. Their messages are saved, and every opt-in button in the thread keeps working whenever they tap one.
A reply delay is still counting down
If you set a Reply Delay on the agent's Automation tab, it waits before answering, and the timer restarts every time the prospect sends another message. A prospect firing off five quick texts gets one combined answer when the timer runs out. If you are watching in real time, this can look like silence when it is really patience.
You replied in that thread yourself
The moment you (or anyone on the connected account) sends anything in a conversation the agent was handling, even a sticker, the agent steps aside for good on that conversation, and the contact shows Interrupted. That is the takeover working as designed. If you want the agent eligible to engage that person again later, use Allow New Sales Conversation on the contact.
The agent handed the conversation to you
If the contact's status is Needs Human Intervention, the agent went quiet deliberately and is waiting for you: the prospect asked for a human, raised a refund or delivery issue, or hit something the agent could not answer confidently. The agent will not resume; reply yourself. See When your agent hands a conversation to you.
The conversation already ended
Statuses like Disqualified, Lost Lead, Customer, and Call Booked are endings. The agent does not keep chatting after an ending (beyond a short wrap-up window after a win). A new conversation needs a new trigger, and for contacts with a finished history, Allow New Sales Conversation first.
One ending catches people out because it happens without a reply: if the prospect said something like "not interested" or "stop messaging me", the conversation closes immediately as Disqualified and the agent deliberately sends nothing back. Open the contact's Activity tab and you will see their message as the last thing in the thread. See When a prospect opts out.
The agent isn't published, or no initiative is live
An agent only works when its status is Active and a live initiative is pointed at it. If the initiative shows Paused but you did not pause it, hover the badge's info icon: it names the cause, whether that is the agent being unpublished, the offer archived, the channel disconnected, or your plan limit reached. Fix the cause and resume.
You've used this cycle's sales conversations
At your plan's limit, new conversations quietly do not start, and your initiatives auto-pause. Check Usage & Limits in Settings → Billing. Upgrade, turn on overages, or wait for the reset. See Reaching your limit and overages.
The channel is disconnected
If your Instagram connection dropped, nothing sends or receives on that account. You would normally have had a push notification and an email about it. If that account was your only connected one, logging in takes you straight to the connect screen; otherwise reconnect from Manage Workspace. See My Instagram disconnected.
The 24-hour window has closed
Instagram only lets a business message someone for 24 hours after that person's last message. If a prospect went quiet for more than a day, the agent cannot send a fresh message until they reach out again. This is an Instagram rule, not a bug.
Still stuck?
If none of these fit, reach out from the chat in your dashboard, or use Report a Bug in Settings, which sends us a screenshot and the context automatically. Tell us the contact and the time it happened and we will dig in with you.