WhatsApp Coexistence: use the WhatsApp Business app and API on the same number

WhatsApp coexistence is Meta's option for using the WhatsApp Business app and the WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) on the same phone number at the same time. Your team keeps chatting from the phone app, while software connected to the API sends template messages, runs chatbots and shares the inbox. Before coexistence, a number had to be deleted from the app before it could be registered on the API, and the app chat history was lost. This article explains what coexistence requires, what syncs, what stops working, how billing works and when a full move to the API is still the better choice. Facts are taken from Meta's onboarding documentation for Business app users, checked on 12 Oct 2026.

Who coexistence is for

Coexistence suits a business that already has a WhatsApp Business app number customers know, and that wants API features without giving up the phone app. Typical examples in India:

• Meera's boutique, Rangoli Home in Jaipur, has 4,000 customers who saved her app number over six years. She wants automated order updates and a catalogue chatbot, but still wants to reply to regulars personally from her phone.
• Sunrise Clinic books appointments on its app number and wants reminder templates sent automatically from its booking software, while the front desk keeps answering on the phone.
• A coaching institute that runs Click-to-WhatsApp ads and needs a shared team inbox, but whose founder still answers parents from the app.

It is less suitable for high-volume senders and for teams that want everything in one shared inbox; see the decision table further down.

Requirements

What syncs to the API, and the 24-hour deadline

During onboarding the business is asked whether to share its chats. If it agrees, the provider can import:

• All contacts saved in the WhatsApp Business app.
• Up to 6 months (180 days) of one-to-one chat history, delivered by Meta in phases (the most recent period first, then day 90 to day 180).
• Media from that history only for messages sent within the last 14 days before onboarding. Older media messages arrive as text records without the file.

Group chats are not synced.

The important catch: the provider has 24 hours after onboarding to request the contacts and history sync. If it does not, the business must be offboarded and go through the signup flow again. Each sync can be requested only once per onboarding. If you are choosing a provider, ask whether it starts the sync automatically.

What changes in the WhatsApp Business app

Once the number is onboarded, some app features switch off and some are simply not available through the API:

Broadcast lists are the change most small businesses notice. On a coexistence number, bulk messages to opted-in customers go out as approved message templates through the API instead, which also gives you per-recipient delivery reports. See our guide to message templates.

Meta's Groups API is not available on coexistence numbers.

Linked devices

The business can link up to four companion devices to the app account. All companion apps work except WhatsApp for Windows and WhatsApp for WearOS. At onboarding every existing companion device is unlinked, so the team has to link supported devices again. If a customer messages from a device or in a way the API cannot mirror, the provider may receive an unsupported-message webhook with error 131060; this is expected on coexistence numbers.

Billing on a coexistence number

• Messages sent from the WhatsApp Business app (or its linked devices) stay free.
• Messages sent through the API are charged at Cloud API rates: templates by category and the customer's country, and non-template service replies after the free allowance of 1,000 service messages per business phone number per month that Meta introduced on 1 Oct 2026.
• Messages sent from the app do not open the API's 24-hour customer service window. The window opens when the customer messages or calls you.

A practical pattern: reply to everyday questions from the app, and use the API for automated, business-initiated messages (order updates, reminders, campaigns) where templates are needed anyway. Our WhatsApp API pricing explainer covers how the categories and the 1,000 free service messages work; we do not quote per-message rates here because Meta changes them every quarter.

Throughput and the 14-day rule

A coexistence number has a fixed throughput of 20 messages per second, compared with 80 by default (and up to 1,000) for a number used only on the Cloud API. For a campaign to 20,000 opted-in customers that means roughly 17 minutes of sending at full speed instead of about 4 (illustrative arithmetic). For most small businesses that is fine, and your messaging limit (how many unique customers you can reach outside the 24-hour window per day) usually matters more. That limit is set for the whole business portfolio, as explained in our article on messaging limit tiers.

Keep the primary phone active. Meta's disconnection reasons include:

• PRIMARY_INACTIVITY: the primary device running the app was inactive for about 14 days.
• COMPANION_INACTIVITY: a companion device was inactive for about 30 days.
• BUSINESS_DOWNGRADE: the number was registered on the personal WhatsApp app.
• CHANGE_NUMBER or USER_RE_REGISTERED: the number was changed or re-registered on a new device.

Disconnecting

Only the business can end coexistence, from the app: Settings → Account → Business Platform → Disconnect Account. The provider receives a partner-removed event and can no longer send through the API. The number keeps working in the app.

Coexistence or full migration to the API?

If you move fully, the number must first be deleted from the app, and the app chat history does not carry over. Our comparison of the WhatsApp Business app and the API explains the trade-offs in more depth.

Coexistence in Broadchat

Broadchat supports coexistence on the official Cloud API through Meta's Embedded Signup. In the panel, open Channels → All Channels, click + Add New Channel and, on the WhatsApp connection screen, choose Use my WhatsApp Business app number instead of connecting a new number. Meta's window then asks you to confirm the number in the app and whether to share chats.

After connecting:

• The channel shows a WhatsApp App + API badge, and the channel page shows the status of the contacts and history sync, with a retry option while Meta's 24-hour sync window is still open.
• Messages your team sends from the phone app appear in the Broadchat Inbox next to API messages, so the whole conversation stays in one thread. Broadchat does not bill you for app-sent messages.
• If the number is disconnected in the app, the channel shows it and you can connect it again.

The general connection steps are in Connect your WhatsApp number, and the plain-English guide to the WhatsApp Business API covers templates, limits and costs. Agencies can offer coexistence onboarding to their own clients under their brand through the partner program.