How to migrate your WhatsApp number to a new provider in 2026

The short answer

Whether you can migrate a WhatsApp number to a new provider, and how, now depends on which account model your business is on. In September 2026 Meta began splitting the old WhatsApp Business account (WABA) into two accounts: a WhatsApp account that holds the phone number, and a Messaging account that holds templates and billing. Meta's page on the account model evolution (updated 22 Sep 2026) says the new model became generally available on 23 Sep 2026 and reaches all businesses by mid-October 2026, in stages.

• On the new model, Meta says plainly that migrating a business phone number from one Solution Partner to another is not supported. You share your WhatsApp account with the new partner instead. The number does not move, conversations are not interrupted and there is nothing to migrate.
• On the legacy model, the older phone number migration still describes the process: two-step verification off, a migration flow run by the new provider, and a short period of downtime.

This guide covers both, plus moving from the WhatsApp Business app and leaving a Multi-Partner Solution. It is written for business owners and the agencies that manage numbers for them. For the basics of the platform, see what the WhatsApp Business API is.

Step 1: check which account model you are on

Meta describes the visible change: after migration, Meta Business Suite shows two tabs, WhatsApp Accounts (phone numbers and usernames) and Messaging Accounts (templates and billing), in place of the single WABA view. If you see those tabs, you are on the new model. Your existing IDs, access tokens and API calls keep working either way, and the old WABA ID becomes the Messaging account ID.

Step 2: prepare before you switch

Whichever model applies, do this first. A painful switch is often caused by something nobody exported.

1. Contacts and opt-in records. Export your contacts with tags, custom fields and when and where each person opted in. Opt-in is your obligation under WhatsApp's policy, not the provider's.
2. Templates. Copy the exact wording, language, category, header media and buttons of every approved template you still use.
3. Integrations. List the webhooks, store connections (Shopify, WooCommerce), payment links and chatbot flows that depend on the old tool. Chatbots and automations live in the provider's software and do not move with the number.
4. Money. Use up or settle any prepaid messaging balance with the old provider, and check whether its credit line pays Meta for your messages. Under the new model, each Messaging account has its own payment method.
5. Billing currency. India-billed accounts must move to INR billing by 31 Dec 2026; Meta says that from 1 Jan 2027 messages from in-scope non-INR accounts will not be delivered. A new Messaging account is a good moment to set INR correctly.
6. Admin access. Make sure someone in your company has full control of the Meta business portfolio. A provider-owned portfolio is a frequent blocker; if the old provider owns the WhatsApp account, ask for it to be handed back.

Step 3: share your WhatsApp account with the new partner

On the new model, the client (you) owns the WhatsApp account and can share it with more than one partner. When you complete a new provider's Embedded Signup and pick your existing account and number, Meta creates a separate Messaging account for that partner. In Broadchat this starts at Channels → All Channels → + Add New Channel; the connect your number help article shows each screen.

What Meta says stays the same or is shared:

• The number, its conversation history, display name and quality rating stay with the WhatsApp account.
• Messaging limits remain at the business portfolio level. When several partners send on one number, they share the limit of unique people per 24 hours.
• Throughput remains at the phone number level and is shared between partners on that number.
• Billing is per Messaging account: each partner is billed through its own, whichever partner handles the conversation.
• Removing the old partner is your decision. Sharing is additive, so you can keep both, for example the old tool for support and the new one for campaigns, and remove one later.

Meta also notes that a client can take on a new Multi-Partner Solution while keeping its WhatsApp account shared with the previous one, and offboard from it whenever it chooses.

A worked example (illustrative)

Meera runs Sunrise Clinic in Pune. Her number has been on an older provider for two years, and she wants to move reminders and campaigns to an agency's platform built on Broadchat. Her business is on the new account model. She exports contacts and template wording on Monday, completes Embedded Signup with the agency on Tuesday morning and chooses her existing number. Patients notice nothing; messages keep arriving throughout. The agency recreates her three utility templates and one marketing template in its new Messaging account, and she removes the old provider's access a fortnight later once reminders are running.

Step 4: recreate or copy your templates

Templates belong to the Messaging account they were created in and are not shared across Messaging accounts. You have two options:

• Recreate each template in the new Messaging account and submit it for review, which Meta says can take up to 24 hours.
• Copy them with Meta's Template Migration API, which your new provider may be able to run for you.

Meta's account-model page adds a caution: when templates are migrated to a new Messaging account, their quality ratings and messaging tier reset to baseline, with a ramp-up period of about 2-4 weeks. Plan the first big campaign after a switch with that in mind, and start with your most engaged contacts. If a template is rejected on resubmission, our message templates guide lists the usual causes.

Step 5: the legacy migration, if your account has not moved yet

For businesses still on the legacy model, the older phone number migration applies. Meta documented on 18 Aug 2026 that migration is rejected for accounts on the new model, so try sharing first and use this only if your screens still show the single WABA view.

1. Turn off two-step verification. It can only be turned off in WhatsApp Manager: follow the steps to change the PIN and choose Turn off two-step verification. Meta emails a link to the address on your business portfolio, and you confirm there. It cannot be turned off through the API.
2. Run the new provider's migration flow, usually through Embedded Signup, and verify the number with the code Meta sends.
3. Expect downtime at registration. The number keeps working until the final registration step. From then until Meta finishes copying templates, sending is interrupted, so pick a quiet hour.

What carries over in a legacy migration: the display name, quality rating, messaging limit and Official Business Account status. Approved templates are copied to the new account, but not their quality history. Chat history in the old provider's inbox does not move; export what you need.

Moving from the WhatsApp Business app instead

If your number is on the free WhatsApp Business app rather than another API provider, there is no provider to migrate from. Meta gives two routes:

• Delete the account in the app (Settings → Account → Delete my account), wait a few minutes, then register the number on the platform. Meta warns that messaging history is lost and the number cannot be used in the app again unless you deregister it from Cloud API.
• Coexistence, available in India since May 2025: onboard through a partner that supports it and keep using the Business app on the same number, with contacts and up to six months of one-to-one chat history synced. Some app features are switched off and throughput is fixed at 20 messages per second. See WhatsApp Business app vs API for when each makes sense.

After the switch

Before you announce anything, test the basics in the new tool:

1. Send an approved template to your own phone and reply to it, to confirm both directions work.
2. Check that incoming messages, delivery statuses and webhooks reach the new tool, and that integrations such as order notifications fire.
3. Check the channel's quality rating and messaging limit; on a shared number they are the same as before.
4. Add a payment method to the new Messaging account, or recharge the channel wallet, so templates are not blocked for lack of funds.
5. Decide whether to remove the old partner. Until you do, it can still send on your number and bill through its own Messaging account.

Broadchat is not a Meta Business Solution Provider; it connects numbers through Meta's Embedded Signup and runs on the official Cloud API. Agencies that move clients onto their own branded platform can do it through the white-label partner program.