Error: Channel couldn't be added

Issue symptoms

When adding a social messaging channel, such as Facebook Messenger or Instagram DM, I get the error Channel couldn't be added followed by additional error details.

Resolution steps

This error message can have different meanings according to the channel you try to add. The error message can also be Couldn't add the channel, try again later. Find the specific channel and error that apply to you below.

Facebook Messenger

Instagram Direct

Note: You can connect multiple Instagram accounts to one Facebook Business page, but each Instagram page needs to be connected to its own Facebook page as a 1:1 ratio.

Facebook Messenger

Facebook page already in use error means the Facebook page is currently being used for Facebook Messenger on another Zendesk account.

Remove the Facebook Messenger channel from the other Zendesk account before you add it to a different account.

Note: If you forgot which account is linked to your Facebook channel, use the reminder page that sends you a reminder of all the accounts associated with an email address.

The account that is connecting Facebook Messenger must have administrator permissions and keep the admin permissions throughout the integration with Zendesk.

For related content, see this article: My Facebook integration stopped working.

Instagram Direct

Instagram profile already in use error means the page is currently being used for Instagram Direct on another Zendesk account.

Remove the Instagram Direct channel from the other Zendesk account before it adding it to a different account.

Note: If you forgot which account is linked to your Instagram channel, use the reminder page that sends you a reminder of all the accounts associated with an email address.

To remove Instagram Direct

Go to Admin Center > Messaging and social > Messaging.

On the channel, you want to remove, select the options menu ( ) and click Delete.

Select Delete channel in the window popup.

Check all information is correct and try again error indicates that you didn't give Zendesk enough permissions during the channel setup.

When installing Instagram Direct, enable all the permissions asked by Zendesk particularly Manage and access Page conversations in Messenger.

The error message Couldn't add the channel, try again later can happen if your Instagram page is not a business account. Visit Instagram's support page if you need help converting your Instagram account to a business account.

Also, confirm that your Instagram page has been linked to a Facebook page. This is required in order to integrate Instagram into Zendesk. Confirm Instagram is added to your Facebook page by navigating to your Facebook page > Settings > Linked accounts.

If your Instagram page has not been linked to your Facebook page, follow the step in the Facebook guide, here.

If you receive the error: Something went wrong, give it a moment and try again when following the integration steps, this indicates the Instagram page does not have a name assigned to the page. Open your Instagram page within the app and select Edit profile to add a name to the page.

For related content, see this article: There is no option to add Instagram to my account.