Saving ads from your phone is one of those small features that changes how you work. You're scrolling Instagram on the sofa, an ad stops you, and instead of screenshotting it into a Slack message to yourself and losing it forever, you send it to us and it's waiting in Atria in the morning. Here's how to set it up — and, just as importantly, how to tell whether it's actually working.
Two different things, both called Instagram
Let's separate these before anything else, because they get muddled constantly — including by us.
The Instagram connector. This is what "connecting Instagram" actually means. It's a Raya connector, and you reach it the same way you reach all the others: the Raya tab → Connectors.
Saving ads by DM to @tryatria_ai. This is the mobile flow, and it's a separate thing. You link your Instagram handle once using a short code, then forward any ad, post, Reel or Story to @tryatria_ai and we save it into Atria for you. No app to install, no browser involved. Just a DM.
If what you want is the ad you scrolled past on your phone five minutes ago, it's the DM flow you're after — and that's what most of this article is about.
Linking your Instagram handle for DM saves
In Atria, open the Raya tab and go to Connectors — the Instagram connection lives there, with the other Raya connectors. Enter your Instagram handle — without the
@.
Atria gives you a 6-digit code.
2. Open Instagram, go to @tryatria_ai, and send that code as a direct message.
3. You'll get a message back confirming your account is linked. That's it — you're done.
One thing that trips people up: the code is short-lived, so don't start the process, wander off, and come back twenty minutes later. If nothing happens when you send it, generate a fresh code and send that instead. Nine times out of ten that's the whole problem.
Saving an ad
Find the ad in your feed, hit share, and send it to @tryatria_ai. You'll get two messages back:
"Saving the post…" — we've received it and started work.
"Post saved to Atria" — it's in.
Then open your Saved Ads page in Atria and it'll be there. You'll see a loading state while the video or image downloads, and if something goes wrong you'll get an error with the option to retry.
Ads, organic posts, Reels and Stories all work. If you send something we can't handle, we'll tell you rather than leave you wondering.
When it looks like nothing happened
This is where we want to save you some time, because there's one quirk that generates more worry than it should.
You got no confirmation message back. Instagram only lets us message you inside a 24-hour window after you've messaged us. So if it's been a while since you last DM'd the bot, your ad may well have saved perfectly while the confirmation never arrived. Check your Saved Ads page before assuming it failed — usually the ad is sitting right there. If you want the confirmations to be reliable, just say hello to the bot occasionally.
Nothing at all comes back, ever — no reply to the code, no reply to a post. That one's on us rather than you: it's usually a connection on our side that's dropped and needs re-establishing by hand. Please do tell us when it happens rather than assuming we've already spotted it — don't spend an afternoon retrying. Send us a message and we'll sort it out.
You've checked Saved Ads and the ad genuinely isn't there. Same answer, and we'd rather you were quick about it: tell us. A save that quietly doesn't arrive is something we fix at our end, and the sooner you say, the sooner you're back to saving ads instead of wondering whether you are.
It worked before and has stopped. Try relinking. Go back to Raya → Connectors, open the Instagram connection, click Edit, re-enter your handle and verify again with a fresh code. If you've changed your Instagram username since you first connected, relinking is essential — we match on the handle you gave us.
The ad saved but looks wrong or incomplete. Retry it from the Saved Ads page. If it fails again, send us the Instagram link and we'll take a look.
On desktop, use the Chrome extension
The DM flow is built for your phone. When you're at your desk, the Atria Chrome Extension is the better tool — install it from the Chrome Web Store, browse Instagram as normal, and save straight from the page. Same destination, same boards. We'd genuinely use both: extension at your desk, DMs on the sofa.
Anything else?
If you've relinked, sent a fresh code and still can't get an ad to save, send us the Instagram handle you're connecting from and a link to the post you tried, and we'll dig into it from our side.
And if you haven't set this up yet — do. It takes about a minute, and it's the difference between having a swipe file and meaning to have one. Shout if you'd like a hand.