Direct messages on X and TikTok: built, not yet live, and each paid for differently
Written by the Allinaa team · Updated
Short version: Allinaa has built connections for direct messages on both of these platforms and neither is live. They are grouped on one page because they share the thing that actually decides whether they happen: each needs an approval or a paid arrangement that Allinaa holds centrally, rather than something your own business can obtain.
What each one is waiting for
| Connection | Built | What it waits on |
|---|---|---|
| X direct messages (not yet live) | Yes, against a simulated API | An Allinaa developer account with paid usage credits, plus a one-time webhook registration |
| TikTok direct messages (not yet live) | Yes, against a simulated API | An Allinaa company developer account and the platform's data security review, which takes weeks |
| TikTok comments (not yet live) | Yes, against a simulated API | The same developer account plus an access form; see comment replies |
Who pays, and why that is not settled
This is the honest difference between these two and every other connection. X, which is not yet live, charges per message on a usage basis - roughly a cent to receive a message event and a little more to send one, at the figures published when this was built. Those charges fall on Allinaa, not on the platform account holder, which makes them the first channel whose cost scales directly with how much your customers use it. Whether that cost is absorbed, passed on, or offered as an add-on is an open decision and has not been made. Anybody telling you it is free has not read the pricing page.
TikTok, also not yet live, has no per-message fee for its messaging interface. Its cost is in time: a company developer account and a data security review before anything can be connected, measured in weeks rather than days.
The reply windows
Both platforms restrict replies to a window after the customer writes, and neither allows a business to start a conversation with somebody who has not written first. On TikTok, which is not yet live, the built connection enforces 48 hours and a limit on how many replies that is. On X, which is not yet live either, the connection keeps a token that must be refreshed every couple of hours and handles the platform's per-app daily cap on sent messages - a cap that is shared across every business using the Allinaa app, which is itself a reason to think carefully before offering it widely.
Regional restrictions that are the platform's, not ours
TikTok's messaging interface is not available everywhere, and the platform itself withholds messages from accounts and customers in parts of Europe, and in the United States until a separate review has been passed. The built connection refuses those rather than appearing to work: a message the platform withholds is recorded as a note instead of being answered into a void. This is the sort of thing that is easy to discover after launching and expensive to discover then.
What the connections do when they run
- New connections start in human mode: messages are stored and your team is notified, and the AI answers nothing until you decide it should.
- Attachments are fetched only from each platform's own media hosts and follow the same file rules as the website chat. See files customers send.
- Sign-in is by the platform's own authorisation flow, with the state tied to the browser that started it, so a sign-in link forwarded to somebody else stores nothing.
- One inbox. These conversations would sit beside the website chat and Telegram with the same actions. See one inbox.
- A few field names are marked unverified in the code on the TikTok side - that connection is not yet live, so they could not be confirmed without real traffic. They are handled conservatively rather than guessed at.
Comments are a separate decision from messages
Replying publicly to a comment is not the same act as answering a private message, and the product treats it that way: nothing is ever posted publicly without a person approving it. If comments are what you actually want, that is covered on its own page. See comment and review replies.
What to use today
The website chat and Telegram are the two live-verified channels, they carry no platform fee, and they answer in all supported languages on Premium. If social messaging is central to your business, the honest advice is to prove the assistant on your own site first - the knowledge you write is the same knowledge every channel uses later, so none of that work is wasted when a platform opens. See the channel overview and what to put in the knowledge.