Follow-ups let you pick a time to come back to a contact while you're still in the conversation. There are two kinds. A reminder tells you when it's time, with your message waiting in the message box. An automatic send sends the message for you at that time, as long as the contact is still inside their 24-hour messaging window. Either one can cancel itself if the contact replies first.

Available on the web app and the iOS and Android apps.

In this guide

You need to be an Inbox Agent to message contacts. See What Is an Inbox Agent?

The follow-up now shows above the message box with its time, who set it, and the draft.

For example, you send a booking link and want to check in tomorrow morning if they haven't booked. Schedule a reminder for Tomorrow 9:00 AM with a short check-in as the draft. Or, if you know what you'll say, schedule it as an automatic send and move on.

Remind me is the safe default. Nothing goes out on its own. When it's due, the contact's clock turns yellow, your draft is in the message box, and you send it.

Send automatically sends the draft at the time you picked, without you. It works on Instagram and Facebook's rules, not ours: a message can only go out within 24 hours of the contact's last message. The window tells you where you stand.

The automatic send uses whatever is in the message box when you open the window: text, an image, a video, audio, a button, a gallery, or a saved response with its actions. It's stored with the follow-up, so editing the saved response later doesn't change what goes out.

Once it's scheduled, the follow-up above the message box reads Scheduled to send. At the time, it changes to Sending follow-up, then Follow-up sent when it's delivered. If something stops it, for example the contact's window closed in the meantime, it reads Follow-up needs attention with the reason in place of the draft, and the contact's icon turns red. Click Edit to fix it and Replace follow-up, or send by hand. You can cancel an automatic send any time before it goes out. Once it's sending or sent, you can't edit it.

A small icon on the contact's photo in your contact list shows the follow-up's status by color. A clock means a reminder, a paper plane means an automatic send.

For a reminder, open the conversation. If you added a message, it's already in the message box. Check it and click Send.

The fastest way to work your follow-ups is the clock icon at the top of your contact list, right next to the Spotlights lightbulb. The red number on it is how many people you need to follow up with today, overdue ones included. Automatic sends count until they've gone out.

Click it and your list shows only those people. Each one has a yellow or red icon, so you can see who's due later today and who's late. Work down the list. Open a contact, your draft is already in the message box, send it. Click the clock again to go back to your full inbox.

To see upcoming follow-ups too, or combine follow-ups with other filters, open Filters and use the Follow-up section. The clock is a shortcut for checking Due today and Overdue there. Save any combination as a Spotlight to reuse it.

With Cancel if they reply first on, the follow-up clears itself when the contact replies, so you never follow up on a conversation that's already moving. That applies to automatic sends too: if they write back first, nothing is sent.

A saved response can schedule its own follow-up, so the follow-up happens every time you use that response. Open the saved response, add the Follow-up action, and set the mode, the delay (from 1 hour up to 7 days, or a custom number of minutes, hours or days), and the content. Automatic sends inside a saved response are limited to under 24 hours, for the same window reason. Each saved response can hold one follow-up, and it always runs after the response's other actions.

Only if you pick Send automatically. A reminder never sends on its own. When it's due, you review the draft and send it.

Yes. Open the conversation. The follow-up shows above the message box. Click Edit to change the time, the draft, or the reply setting, then click Replace follow-up. Click Cancel to remove it. Each contact has one follow-up at a time, so a new one replaces the old one. An automatic send can't be edited once it's sending or sent. If it needs attention, Edit still works.

The contact's 24-hour messaging window has closed, or the time you picked is past it. Meta only lets a message go out automatically within 24 hours of the contact's last message. Switch to Remind me and send by hand when it's time.

The reminder still shows up, but you can't send. Meta lets you message a contact by hand within 7 days of their last message, and Ellipsend doesn't stop you from scheduling past that. Once the window closes, the message box says the contact isn't available to be messaged. So pick a time inside the 7 days.

Yes. Follow-ups are in the iOS and Android apps as well as the web app. Automatic sends run on Ellipsend's servers, so they go out even when the app is closed.