Introduction
Customers often go quiet in the middle of a conversation — they ask a question, get an answer, and simply move on without replying. Auto-Resolve Inactive Conversations gives every one of those threads a second touch and then a clean ending.
When a customer stops replying, Rep waits for a period you choose, then checks in once. If there is still no reply after a further 48 hours, Rep closes the conversation and marks it resolved. Some customers come back and finish what they started; the rest stop sitting in your queue as half-open threads, so your resolution and deflection numbers reflect what Rep actually handled.
Auto-Resolve works on your email/helpdesk channel and on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, and you set it per channel.
How it works
- The clock starts at the customer's last message.
- Rep checks in once after the wait time you chose. The message is written by your AI from the conversation itself and from your AI instructions — it references what the customer was actually asking about, in your brand's voice. There is no template and no "this is an automated message" prefix.
- If the customer replies, the conversation carries on normally. The clock resets, nothing closes, and Rep will not check in on that conversation again.
- If there is still no reply after 48 hours, Rep closes the conversation and marks it resolved.
Rep checks in once per conversation — never twice, no matter how many times the thread stalls.
What the customer sees when the conversation closes
This depends on the channel.
On your email/helpdesk channel, Rep posts a short closing note in the same email thread — a friendly message that assumes the customer is all set and invites them to reply if they still need help — and then closes the ticket in your helpdesk. If the customer does reply, the thread comes back to life as a normal conversation.
On Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, the close is silent. The customer receives nothing and their chat looks untouched. The conversation is simply marked resolved on your side. This is deliberate: Meta only allows messages inside a 24-hour window from the customer's last message, and the 48-hour close falls outside it.
Setting your check-in time
The one setting you control is how long Rep waits before checking in. Everything else runs on its own.
Check in after — pick one of:
- 5 minutes
- 15 minutes
- 30 minutes
- 1 hour
- 2 hours
- 4 hours
- 12 hours
- 1 day
The default is 12 hours, measured from the customer's last message.
Then close after is fixed at 48 hours and is shown for reference, not as a control.
Each channel has its own setting, so you can check in after 30 minutes on Instagram and after a day on email if that suits how your customers behave.
Choosing a wait time
- Shorter waits (5 minutes to 1 hour) suit fast, chat-like channels where a customer is likely still on their phone. They recover more conversations, but they can feel eager on a channel people treat like email.
- Longer waits (4 hours to 1 day) suit email and support-heavy threads, where customers routinely take hours to come back and an early nudge would arrive while they are still reading.
- 12 hours is a safe middle ground and is where every channel starts.
On Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, check-ins are always sent inside Meta's 24-hour messaging window. If you choose 1 day, Rep sends the check-in just before that window closes rather than after it.
Where to find the setting
Email and helpdesk
- In your Rep AI Console, go to AI Support → Email Answering.
- Scroll to the Auto-Resolve Inactive Conversations card, below your Do-Not-Answer Rules.
- Choose a time from Check in after.
- Click Save Changes at the top right of the page.
The card appears once you have a helpdesk connected. If you have not connected one yet, the page invites you to do that first.
Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp
You can reach the same setting two ways.
From AI Support:
- Go to AI Support → Social DM Answering.
- Pick the Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp tab.
- Find the Auto-Resolve Inactive Conversations card in the What's next? section.
- Choose a time from Check in after.
From Settings:
- Go to Settings → Integrations → Social.
- Open the Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp card.
- Find Auto-Resolve Inactive Conversations in the What's next? section.
- Choose a time from Check in after.
On these three channels your choice saves as soon as you pick it — there is no Save button to click.
Only channels you have connected appear here. If a tab is greyed out, connect that channel first.
When Rep leaves a conversation alone
Auto-Resolve stays out of the way whenever a person is involved or the conversation is already finished. Rep does not check in and does not close when:
- A member of your team has taken over. On email, Rep steps back as soon as one of your agents replies to the thread, and also when the ticket carries a Human_Agent_Needed or rep tag. On Instagram and Facebook, Rep detects a human reply automatically. If your team takes over after the check-in has already gone out, the pending close is cancelled too.
- The conversation is already resolved. Threads your AI has already wrapped up are left alone.
- The customer has replied. Any new customer message resets the clock and cancels a pending close.
- AI answering is switched off for the channel. If Enable AI answering directly on Instagram / Facebook / WhatsApp is off — including when that channel is running in Classic Mode — Rep neither checks in nor closes anything there.
- Your AI cannot write a suitable message. If the AI cannot generate a check-in, Rep stays quiet rather than sending something generic.
How auto-closed conversations show up in your numbers
A conversation that Rep closes this way counts as resolved, alongside every other conversation your AI resolved on that channel, and feeds the same Resolved by AI and Deflected Support Tickets reporting on your Support Analytics dashboard.
On the Email Resolution Chart (AI Support → Support Analytics, with the Platform filter set to Helpdesk), a thread that was sitting in Pending Customer Response moves into Resolved once the 48 hours pass. Each ticket is only ever counted in its final outcome, so nothing is double-counted.
How it affects your ticket usage
The check-in message never uses a ticket. A ticket is consumed only when Rep actually closes the conversation, and only if that conversation has not already used one — so a conversation is never counted twice, including when a customer replies and reopens it.
On Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp this comes out of your Omnichannel AI ticket package, exactly like any other AI-resolved conversation on those channels. See Let Rep AI Answer Customers on Every Channel with Omnichannel AI for how the package works.
Frequently asked questions
Can I turn Auto-Resolve off?
Auto-Resolve runs on every channel and there is no on/off switch. Your control is the wait time — choosing 1 day gives customers the longest possible window before Rep checks in.
Will a customer ever get two check-ins?
No. Rep checks in once per conversation. If the customer replies and then goes quiet again, that conversation will not receive another check-in.
Can I write the check-in message myself?
The message is generated for each conversation so it fits what the customer was asking about. To shape how it reads, use your AI instructions — your general instructions, or the channel-specific ones under Use specific AI instructions. Tone, length, and language guidance there apply to check-ins and closing notes just as they do to normal replies.
What happens if the customer replies after the conversation is closed?
On email, their reply reopens the thread and the conversation continues. On Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, a new message simply starts the conversation up again — the customer never saw a close in the first place.
Can I set a different wait time for each channel?
Yes. Email, Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp each have their own setting and work independently.
Does this apply to my website chat widget?
Not today. Auto-Resolve covers your email/helpdesk channel and Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
Why did a conversation close without the customer getting a message?
That is the expected behavior on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. Meta only allows messages within 24 hours of the customer's last message, and the close falls outside that window, so the conversation is closed on your side quietly.