# Comments

> Read and answer comments from your accounts' phones: replies, likes, Instagram pins, deleting and scheduling.

Accounts > Comments gathers the comments on your accounts' videos in one place, and lets any of your accounts answer them. Everything you send goes out from the account's own phone: the phone opens the video and types the reply or taps the heart, the way a person would.

## Reading comments

Pamba reads the comments on your accounts' videos from the last 60 days, on TikTok and Instagram: a video's comments are read again once its comment count grows, so a new comment shows up within about an hour. The line under the filters says when Pamba last checked your videos for new comments, whether or not one was new. Comments cover the accounts you pay Pamba for: the ones on your Pamba phones and the ones you have a seat for. An account you only track for analytics shows none.

- **Questions** shows only the comments that ask something, so the ones worth answering come first.
- **Yours** shows only threads where one of your accounts wrote the comment or a reply.
- Search matches a comment's words, its author and its replies. Filter by platform or by account.
- **Hidden on Instagram** marks a comment Instagram hides from the post, with its own filter or because the account hid it: it shows only under "See hidden comments" in the Instagram app. Your phones can't find it there, so Pamba can't reply to it, like, pin or delete it, or delete the replies under it, and comment automations skip it. Open it in the Instagram app to reply, unhide or delete it.
- A video opens on its comments in the order the platform shows them (Top on TikTok, Most liked on Instagram); you can switch to Newest first.

## Replying, commenting, liking and deleting

- **Reply** under a comment, or **Add a comment** to the video itself. Pick which of your accounts posts it: the video's own account, or another of yours on the same platform. The account must be signed in on one of your Pamba phones.
- **Like** with the heart. It opens the accounts that can like the comment now, and **Schedule for later**.
- **Pin** (Instagram only) works on your own videos, two comments per post. On a new comment, tick "Pin it once it's posted". TikTok no longer lets creators pin comments.
- **Delete** works on your own videos, on TikTok and Instagram, on comments and on replies: the video's own account deletes it from its phone, since only a video's owner can delete other people's comments on it. It can't be undone. Only comments with words of their own can be deleted: delete one that is only a sticker, photo, GIF, @mentions or punctuation in the app, and a reply under such a comment too, since the phone finds a reply under its comment by that comment's words. Deleting a comment takes its replies with it, cancels your queued replies, likes and pins of it, and it takes no new ones while the delete is on its way.

What an account is asked to do now on one video goes out together, in one sitting on its phone, as a creator would do it. Each request waits 2 minutes for the next, and the batch goes out at most 10 minutes after its first request, up to 10 actions a session. Anything you schedule goes out at its own time instead.

Each comment shows where it stands:

- **Queued**: waiting for the phone. A scheduled one shows its time instead.
- **Sending**: the phone has it.
- **Sent**: the phone posted it, and Pamba is checking it shows on the platform.
- **Live**: Pamba saw it on the platform.
- **Not showing**: no read found it 6 hours after it went out, since platforms can hide a comment.
- **Couldn't send**: the phone could not post it, with the reason.
- **Not sent**: it was cancelled before the phone had it.

A like or a pin shows **Liking** or **Pinning**, then **Liked** or **Pinned** once the phone saw it land. A comment being deleted stays on the list, marked as being deleted, until the phone saw it gone; then it leaves the list. When the phone could not confirm it, it looks again a little later. You can cancel anything still queued, scheduled ones included.

## Scheduling

The clock in a reply or a comment, and **Schedule for later** in the heart's popup, schedule it from a minute to 30 days ahead. It goes out within a few minutes of that time, with the account's other actions on the video due then. Scheduling is also how you spread work across days: when a limit refuses a request, the message names the first time it would pass, and you can schedule it for then.

You can also reply to one of your own comments before it is live. The reply waits for it, then goes out 15 to 45 minutes after it was posted, so the conversation looks natural. Up to 3 replies can wait behind one comment, one after the other.

## Limits

TikTok and Instagram lock accounts that act too much, too fast, so Pamba keeps every account inside these:

- A comment is at most 150 characters on TikTok and 2,200 on Instagram.
- An account is asked for at most 30 comments, and at most 30 likes, pins and deletes, in any rolling day.
- On another of your accounts' videos, an account comments at most once a day and likes at most once a day. The Pamba team can raise either limit for your workspace. An account Pamba created waits its first 7 days before commenting on other accounts' videos.
- You cannot leave comments between accounts on the same phone. Two accounts signed in on one phone never comment on each other's videos, and never reply to or like a comment on them or one the other wrote, since TikTok and Instagram can tell they share a device. The account picker shows which accounts are on the same phone; pick one on another phone.

Every limit counts at the time an action goes out, so a scheduled action counts on its own day.

## Automations: answer comments with a DM

The **Automations** button at the top of the Comments page, beside the tabs, opens your comment automations; while any are on, it shows how many. An automation watches for a word in new comments, like "guide", and every person who comments it gets your message as a direct message from the account's own phone, on TikTok and Instagram.

- **Keywords**: one or more words. By default a comment matches when it has one of them anywhere, as a whole word, whatever its capitals, punctuation or emoji ("Guide!", "GUIDE please" and "guide 🙏" all match, "guidelines" does not). Pick "The comment is only the word" to match only comments that are the word and nothing else.
- **Accounts and posts**: pick accounts, or **All accounts**, which also covers accounts you add later. It answers comments on every post, including ones you post later. Only accounts on your Pamba phones can send messages.
- **Two messages**: the first DM has no link and asks the person to reply, like "Want the guide? Reply YES and I'll send it". Once they reply yes, or anything that says they want it, the account's phone sends your second message, the one with your link. Instagram doesn't show a link to someone who doesn't follow you until they reply, and waiting for a reply keeps your account from looking like spam on both apps. Someone who hasn't said yes within 7 days doesn't get the link. Each message takes up to 1,000 characters; put a few words with the link (a message that is only a link isn't taken), and write `{username}` in either one to put the commenter's @handle in it. TikTok sends a message as one paragraph: its line breaks become spaces.
- **When replies are read**: one read of the account's inbox covers everyone waiting for your link. The phone reads it soon after a first message goes out (15 to 30 minutes), then less and less often, never more than every 30 minutes and at least every 3 hours, and on every DM session, so a yes soon after the first message gets the link within the hour, and a later one within about 3 hours (overnight, from 1 to 8 AM Pacific, the phones send nothing). It opens only the chats of people waiting for your link, so your other DMs stay unread. While an automation is off, the links of people who replied yes wait too. An automation made before the two messages now sends two: its message, link and all, is the second, after a first message that asks for a reply. One whose message had no link is paused until you add the message with your link.
- **Once per person**: someone who comments the word again, or on another of your posts, isn't messaged twice by the same automation. A comment that says the words of two of your automations gets one message, from the one you made first.
- **Reply under the comment**: optional public replies, like "Just sent you a DM 📩", one used per comment so they don't all read the same. The account's phone answers each comment the way a person would: it opens the post, finds the comment, taps the person's name to reach their profile and messages them, then goes back to the comment and replies under it. Replies count toward the account's 30 comments a day, the ones you post yourself included: once those are used, the DM still goes out without a reply.
- **If the DM can't be delivered**: some people only accept messages from accounts they follow or know. You can reply under their comment instead, for example asking them to follow you and comment again, or skip them. That reply goes to each person once. On Instagram a private profile has no Message button, so the phone doesn't try to message someone whose profile is private: their comment gets that reply instead, spread out through the day with the account's other comments, and they don't count toward the account's 20 DMs that day.
- **Pace**: each account sends up to 20 first DMs a day, spread out through the day, and DMs past that wait. On TikTok the oldest comment goes first. On Instagram each post's newest waiting comment goes first, your posts taking turns: the phone finds each comment by scrolling the post's comments, so on a post that keeps getting comments an older one can sink too far down to reach. A DM whose comment the phone can't find isn't sent ("couldn't be found"), and that doesn't count toward the 20. The messages with your link don't count either, since each person gets one at most.

When you create an automation it also answers matching comments from the last 7 days, unless you choose only new comments. No automation answers a comment older than 7 days, or one from your own accounts, and a comment that was deleted can't be answered. Pamba sees a new comment within about an hour, and the message goes out after that, on the account's next phone session. A message still waiting when its comment turns 7 days old is not sent. While an account is signed out of its phone, under review or being recreated, its messages wait. When Instagram restricts an account from sending messages ("You can't send messages until" a date), its messages wait until the day after the restriction ends, or until 31 days after it was added when Instagram gives no end date. The automation's card names the account and links to it on the Accounts page, which shows the restriction and, when Instagram gave one, its end date. The account's line in the automation's account list says when its messages go out again. A message whose comment turns 7 days old before then is not sent, and Pamba doesn't check for replies to the account's first messages until then either, since it couldn't send the link. Your TikTok accounts keep sending as usual. On Instagram, a message to someone who doesn't follow the account lands in their message requests.

Turn an automation off and on from its card. It answers nothing while it's off, and when you turn it back on it answers only comments made from then on; messages that were already waiting go out. Changing its words or accounts works the same way: it answers comments made after the change. A new message goes to the people still waiting for one too. Deleting an automation cancels its waiting messages; what it already sent still counts toward the account's daily limit, and a comment it answered isn't answered again. Each automation's **Activity** lists every comment it answered, and its message's status: sent, waiting (for the daily limit, or the account's next session), couldn't send (with the reason), or skipped (they already got it, their Instagram profile is private, or Instagram hides their comment), and once the first message went out, whether they replied yes and got your link. The Comments page marks each answered comment too.

## From the agent and the API

Ask the agent ("reply to the questions on my last video", "like the top comments from @youraccount tomorrow at 9am"). It has the same actions. From your own tools, the comment routes are in the [API reference](/api) and the MCP tools in the [MCP server](/help/mcp-server) guide:

- `list_comments`, `reply_to_comment`, `comment_on_video`, `like_comment`, `pin_comment` and `delete_comment` read, answer and delete comments.
- `list_outgoing_comments` and `cancel_outgoing_comment` follow what you sent.
- `create_comment_automation`, `list_comment_automations`, `get_comment_automation`, `update_comment_automation`, `delete_comment_automation` and `list_comment_automation_activity` set up and follow comment automations ("when someone comments guide on my videos, DM them the guide").

To like in bulk, give each like its own `scheduled_for`, spread past the daily limits.

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HTML version: https://pamba.app/help/comments · All docs: https://pamba.app/llms.txt