A DM read receipt is the signal Instagram sends when a person opens a message you sent. Apps receive it as the messaging_seen webhook. Inrō counts reads and open rates from it, so unreported reads go uncounted.
An Instagram DM read receipt is the signal that a person opened a message you sent. A tool like Inrō gets it as a webhook from Meta, and Inrō's read counts and open rates are built on it.
Meta sends a messaging_seen update to apps that subscribe to it, a notification sent when a message has been read by the recipient (Meta for Developers, Instagram messaging webhooks, checked 1 October 2026). The update holds the reader's Instagram-scoped id, your account id, a timestamp and a read object. Inside it, mid is the id of the message that was read (Meta, Instagram webhook examples, checked 1 October 2026). The other updates Meta sends are covered under Instagram webhook.
When Instagram reports a read, Inrō marks that message and any earlier unread ones as read. You see the result in three places:
A step's read is counted once per run, however many times the contact opens the thread. How a DM campaign turns these reads into a percentage is explained under Instagram DM open rate.
Instagram lets people turn read receipts off, for one chat or for all chats (Instagram Help Center, read receipts, checked 1 October 2026). Inrō's blog post on Instagram's read receipt controls shows where the setting lives.
Meta's developer docs do not say whether messaging_seen still reaches an app when the reader has receipts off. Treat a message with no read as unknown, not as unread. A read count tells you how many people confirmed a read. The true number of people who saw your DM can be higher.
For other terms, see the Inrō automation glossary.
Attract more leads, target them with DM marketing, and automate all your interactions on Instagram!
