Meta Chat: WhatsApp, Messenger & Instagram Inbox
Customers who message your business on social media expect fast replies, but jumping between the Facebook and Instagram apps means messages slip through the cracks. Meta Chat brings those conversations into Rentablez as a single, shared inbox. Your whole team can read threads, track which chats are still open, and reply — all without leaving the app.
Feature availability. Meta Chat is part of the Add-ons & Integrations subscription (the Meta Connect feature). If you don’t see it, it isn’t enabled for your organization yet. Access is also permission-gated (see Who Can Use Meta Chat).
Which Channels Can I Connect?
Meta Chat currently supports two channels:
| Channel | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Facebook Messenger | Messages sent to your connected Facebook Page |
| Direct messages to your connected Instagram Business/Creator account |
WhatsApp is on the roadmap, not live yet. The inbox is built to add WhatsApp alongside Messenger and Instagram, but you can only connect Messenger and Instagram today. Don’t promise customers WhatsApp replies through Rentablez until it ships.
Who Can Use Meta Chat?
Three separate permissions control what a team member can do:
| Permission | What it allows |
|---|---|
meta_chat.read | Open the inbox, read conversations, change conversation status |
meta_chat.write | Send replies and template messages |
meta_chat.settings | Connect, disconnect, and reconnect channels |
Assign these on the role in Settings → Roles. A support agent typically gets read and write; only an admin needs the settings permission to link accounts.
Connecting Your First Channel
Before any messages appear, someone with the meta_chat.settings permission needs to link your social accounts. This is a one-time setup per account.
Link a Messenger or Instagram Account
Step 1 — Open Messaging Channels
Go to Settings → Messaging Channels. You’ll see the Messaging Channels page with connect buttons and a list of any channels already linked.
Step 2 — Choose a channel to connect
Click Connect Messenger or Connect Instagram. A Facebook login window pops up.
If the popup doesn’t appear, your browser likely blocked it. Allow popups for Rentablez and click connect again.
Step 3 — Authorize with Facebook
Sign in to Facebook and grant the requested permissions. Rentablez then discovers the Pages and Instagram accounts you manage.
- Connecting Messenger shows your Facebook Pages.
- Connecting Instagram shows Instagram Business/Creator accounts that are linked to a Facebook Page.
Instagram must be a Business or Creator account linked to a Facebook Page. A personal Instagram account won’t appear. If Rentablez says no Instagram accounts were found, convert the account and link it to your Page in the Instagram app first, then try again.
Step 4 — Pick the account to connect
If you manage only one eligible account, Rentablez connects it automatically. If you manage several, a Which page do you want to connect? picker appears — select the account and click Connect.
Once linked, the account shows in Connected Channels with a green Connected badge.
Disconnect or Reconnect a Channel
On any connected channel card:
- Disconnect stops Rentablez from receiving new messages on that channel. Existing conversation history stays put. You’ll be asked to confirm.
- Reconnect re-activates a channel you previously disconnected.
Using the Inbox
Open Meta Chat from /meta-chat, or find it as the Channels tab inside the main Messages page. Both show the same conversations.
The inbox has two parts: the conversation list on the left and the message thread on the right.
Find the Right Conversation
The left sidebar gives you three ways to narrow the list:
- Search — type a contact’s name in the search box.
- Status filter — tap All, Open, Pending, Resolved, or Snoozed to show only conversations in that state.
- Channel filter — tap Messenger or Instagram to show only that channel. Tap again to clear it.
Each conversation card shows the contact’s name and photo, a small badge for its channel, the last message preview, how long ago it arrived, and an unread count badge when there are messages you haven’t read.
Read a Thread
Click a conversation to open it. Messages are grouped by day (Today, Yesterday, or the date), with the customer’s messages on one side and your team’s replies on the other. Opening a conversation automatically marks it as read.
New incoming messages appear in real time — you don’t need to refresh the page.
The Thread Header
At the top of an open conversation you’ll find:
- The contact’s name, their channel, and which connected account (Page or Instagram account) they reached you on.
- A response-window timer (explained below).
- A status dropdown to move the conversation between Open, Pending, Resolved, and Snoozed.
- A Mark as read button.
- A Resolve button (which becomes Reopen once the conversation is resolved).
Status is a team workflow tool. Use Pending for “waiting on the customer”, Resolved when you’re done, and Snoozed to set something aside. Everyone on your team sees the same status, so nobody double-handles a chat.
Replying to Customers
Type your reply in the composer at the bottom of the thread and press Enter to send. Use Shift + Enter to add a new line without sending. Sending replies requires the meta_chat.write permission.
The 24-Hour Messaging Window
Meta limits when businesses can send free-form messages. You can only reply with regular text within 24 hours of the customer’s last message. The timer in the thread header counts this down:
| Timer color | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Green | More than 4 hours left |
| Yellow | Between 1 and 4 hours left |
| Red | Less than an hour left |
| ”Window expired” | The 24-hour window has closed |
When the window expires, the message box is disabled and a banner appears:
24h window expired. Send a template message to re-engage this contact.
Send a Template Message to Re-Engage
Once the window has closed, the only way to reach the contact again is an approved template message.
Step 1 — Open the template picker
Click the template button next to the composer. The Choose a Template window opens and loads your approved templates directly from Meta.
Step 2 — Pick a template
Select a template from the list. Each shows its name, a category badge, and a preview of the message body.
If you see No Templates Found, your Meta account has no approved response templates for this channel yet. Templates are created and approved inside Meta’s Business tools, not in Rentablez.
Step 3 — Fill in the variables
If the template has placeholders (shown as tokens like {{1}} in the body), a field appears for each one. Type the value for each — for example a customer name or an order number — and the preview updates to show the final message.
Step 4 — Send
Click Send Template. The message goes out and, once the customer replies, a fresh 24-hour window opens so you can continue the conversation normally.