When a comment automation sends a private reply on a Facebook Page, Manychat keeps thread control. The customer's reply then lands in the Manychat inbox and never reaches the Page's default app under Meta's Conversation Routing.
For anyone who runs Manychat for comments and a separate helpdesk for direct messages, that is a dead end. The customer answers a Manychat private reply, nobody sees it, and the enquiry is lost.
Meta already supports the fix. The app that owns the thread can call pass_thread_control (or release_thread_control) and hand the conversation to the Page's default app. Manychat does not expose it.
What I am asking for is one optional setting on the comment automation: after the private reply is sent, pass thread control to the Page's default app.
Why it matters in practice:
1. Instagram already behaves correctly. A Manychat private reply on Instagram reaches our helpdesk and the conversation continues there. Facebook does not, and the inconsistency is not obvious until you lose an enquiry.
2. We had to switch our Facebook private reply off altogether in August for this reason. Facebook commenters now get a public reply and nothing else, which is worse for them and for us.
3. Support have confirmed there is no workaround today. The suggested External Request route needs a token belonging to the app that owns the thread, which is Manychat's, not ours.
This is not a request for Manychat to integrate with any particular helpdesk. It is a request to release the thread when the automation has finished with it, so the Page owner can route it wherever they already route everything else.