If you’ve installed the Intercom Messenger and it’s not appearing correctly, here are a few common ways to fix it.

This article covers any web integration. The web integration involves adding the JavaScript code snippet on a webpage or it can be done more automatically like our WordPress and Shopify apps that just require clicking and authorizing.

You won’t be able to use the Messenger if you don’t have an Intercom trial or subscription.

Make sure you have enabled user traffic for Messenger in Settings > Channels > Messenger > Install.

There are two ways you can install the Intercom Messenger using JavaScript:

You should make sure you use the right JavaScript code snippet in the right place.

If you’ve followed the above guides to installing the snippet but still can’t see the Messenger, here are the next steps:

This app uses a code-less method to install the Intercom Messenger. If you'll be using GTM with a regional workspace, you'll need to pass "api_base" as a custom data attribute, under the "tracking custom data about your users" section with the regional value:

Check out this article for more information.

Have you entered it incorrectly, or do you have multiple apps? Check the app_id in the ping request (In Chrome: right click page > Inspect > Network); if you don't see the ping reload the page.

You can try also checking intercomSettings in console but this only applies for non single-page apps. Single-page apps may not have intercomSettings defined.

Open up console and try a quick method of loading the Messenger with Intercom('show');

If that doesn't work, look for the ping request (you will probably need to reload the page to see it). If you do not see any ping request it is likely that the Intercom snippet is not installed or not correctly installed.

There are a number of ways to customize the Messenger and add extra layers of security. However, some settings can prevent the Messenger loading if configured incorrectly.

When installing the Messenger, it's possible to hide it from your audience prior to launching:

In Messenger settings, you can "Control your inbound conversations volume" and configure the Messenger launcher to show to visitors or users, or if they match certain data. 

If you choose to show the Messenger to visitors or users who match certain data, your customers (and you) will need to match this data to see the Messenger appear. For example, if you only want to show the Messenger to users who are "VIP" status, only users with this data will see the Messenger.

The Messenger won’t load if Identity Verification is set up incorrectly.

With Identity Verification, you store the secret key from your Intercom security settings. You then use it to generate a unique user hash for each of your logged in users which you send along to the Messenger with the other user data for that user.

If you enforce Identity Verification in your security settings without sending hashes through your Messenger integration for each user, the Messenger won’t load for them. Similarly if you enforce Identity Verification with invalid hashes for each user, the Messenger will fail to load.

The easiest way to see if this is the cause of your issue is to open your browser console and look for specific error messages.

If you enforce identity verification without adding the correct user_hash this will prevent the messenger loading and throw a 403 error in your browser console as shown in the image above.

Read more about about troubleshooting specific Identity Verification errors here 📚

Under Keep your Messenger secure you can list the trusted domains where you’ve installed Intercom.

If these domains have been incorrectly added or the domain you’re on is not listed, the Messenger won’t load and you’ll see a 403 error in your browser console.

Steps to find trusted domain errors in the console:

Installing Intercom on your website depends on the Messenger being able to create a first-party cookie for your domain, like *.customer-domain.com. This will fail (with modern browsers) on any domain registered as a public suffix, like firebaseapp.com or herokuapp.com. See the full list of public suffix domains here.

If you see a 409 error flagged in the console, this indicates a conflict. Typically this conflict is caused by multiple existing users with the same email address and Intercom not knowing which one you are trying to login.

To resolve this, you can either:

Some ad blocking extensions also block JavaScript that includes tracking functionality, such as the Messenger. Find out why this happens, and what to do about it here.

Changing the install code or applying your own CSS to Intercom elements can have unexpected results, so we advise against doing this. If you have a specific use case in mind, chat with our support team in the messenger. We can point you in the right direction. 😄 

If you’re using the Intercom WordPress plugin to chat to logged-out visitors only, you'll need to log out of the WordPress admin dashboard before visiting your site to see the Messenger appear.

You must also have WordPress 4.2.0 and PHP 5.6 or higher for the Messenger to load correctly when installed with the plugin.

Certain WordPress themes don’t include the footer element where Intercom’s JavaScript snippet is inserted by the plugin. If you use a theme without a footer, you’ll need to install Intercom with the JavaScript snippet directly on your WordPress pages.

You can check your browser’s console for any other errors if your Messenger still isn’t loading correctly. Here’s how to check in each web browser:

If you’re still having trouble loading the Messenger, chat to us in the Messenger and we’ll be happy to help!

The decision was made to hide the Messenger in some situations within the Help Desk so that it would not clash with the sidebar/Copilot. The workaround is to go to a different page in the app and open the Messenger launcher from there.