The first question: do I lose my WhatsApp?
Every hotel owner who looks at an AI for guest messages asks the same thing first: will I lose my WhatsApp? It is the right question. The number is on your website, your Instagram, your Google listing and the sign at the entrance. Years of guest chats live in the app on the front desk phone, and your team knows how to use it.
Without coexistence, the answer is yes. To move a number that is on the WhatsApp Business app onto WhatsApp's API, you delete the app account first. Meta's own guide says your existing message history is then lost, and the number can't go back to the app unless it is taken off the API again. That is why some providers ask hotels for a new number, and others move theirs off the app.
Coexistence is the other way, and it changes the answer to no.
What WhatsApp coexistence is
Coexistence is Meta's way to use the WhatsApp Business app and the API on the same number at the same time. Your team keeps the app on the property's phone and keeps chatting with guests one to one. A connected system, such as an AI concierge or a shared inbox, sends and receives on that same number through the API.
For the guest, nothing changes: the same number, the same business name, the same chat. Messages are mirrored both ways, so a reply sent from the phone appears in the connected system, and a reply sent by the system appears in the app.
The money side stays simple. Messages your team sends from the app stay free. Messages the system sends through the API follow WhatsApp's API pricing.
What comes across when you connect
When you connect, the app asks whether to share your chat history with the system. You can say no. If you say yes, this is what Meta allows:
- One-to-one chats from the last six months can be copied into the system.
- Group chats are not copied.
- Photos, voice notes and files come only from about the last two weeks, and some systems bring the text only.
- Your contacts can be copied too: every contact with a WhatsApp number.
- The copy is made once, within 24 hours of connecting. To make it again, you disconnect and start over.
None of this takes anything off your phone. Older chats, groups and every photo stay in the app as they were. The six months is only what the connected system receives.
What changes in the WhatsApp Business app
Most of the app works as before. This is what Meta's documentation says changes once the number is connected:
| Feature | In the app | In the connected system |
|---|---|---|
| One-to-one chats | As before, and you can edit or delete a sent message | Yes, mirrored both ways; the last six months can be copied in |
| Contacts | No change | Can be synced |
| Group chats | No change | Not available |
| Voice and video calls | No change | Not available |
| Broadcast lists | Switched off; existing lists become read-only | Not available |
| Disappearing messages, view once, live location | Switched off in one-to-one chats | Not available |
| Catalog, status, labels, quick replies, greeting and away messages | No change | Not available |
The one to plan for is broadcast lists. If you send offers or news to past guests that way, the app stops sending them once the number is connected, so decide beforehand how you will reach those guests.
And because the greeting and away messages keep working in the app, switch them off when a system starts answering guests. Otherwise a guest who writes at night can get two replies: the app's away message and the system's answer.
Who pays WhatsApp's fees
Meta charges for messages sent through the API. Who gets that bill depends on how your provider connects to WhatsApp, and it tells you whether a card belongs on your WhatsApp Business account.
- A Meta Solution Partner can put your account on its own credit line with Meta. You enter no payment method, and the partner pays Meta for your messages.
- A Tech Provider's clients add their own payment method after connecting, and pay Meta themselves.
Ask which one applies before you connect, and follow it exactly. If your provider pays WhatsApp's fees, add no payment method of your own to the WhatsApp Business account. For every cost in the picture, see what a WhatsApp AI concierge really costs a small hotel.
When your team answers from the phone
With coexistence, two can answer the same chat: a person on the phone and the system. A good system notices when a person has replied and steps back, so the guest never gets two answers or an AI talking over the owner.
WhatsApp gives the system what it needs for that. Each message your team sends from the app, or from a supported linked device, reaches the connected system as a copy, which Meta calls a message echo. The system can show your reply in its inbox and know the chat is in a person's hands.
Ask any provider what it does with those copies: does the AI stop on that chat, and what starts it again?
Linked devices matter here. When the number is connected, WhatsApp unlinks every companion device, and you can link up to four again. WhatsApp Web and the other companion apps work, except WhatsApp for Windows and WhatsApp for WearOS: replies sent from those two never reach the connected system, so it can't see that you answered.
Before you connect: a checklist
- Your number runs on the WhatsApp Business app, version 2.24.17 or later, not on personal WhatsApp.
- Your provider connects through a Meta Solution Partner or Tech Provider. Only those can connect a number that stays on the app.
- The person who manages the business on Facebook is there, with the property's phone at hand. They sign in with Facebook, choose or create the business portfolio, and accept Meta's terms.
- You know who pays WhatsApp's fees, and the WhatsApp Business account has a payment method only if your provider asks for one.
- The app's greeting and away messages are off, if the system will answer guests.
- Your team replies from the phone, WhatsApp Web or another supported device, not from WhatsApp for Windows.
- You have decided whether to share your chat history. The choice comes once, at the connection.
Staying connected, and leaving
The connection lives on the phone. If the WhatsApp Business app on the main phone stays closed for about two weeks, WhatsApp disconnects the number from the API, and the system stops receiving your guests' messages.
Leaving is in your hands. In the app, go to Settings → Account → Business Platform and tap Disconnect account. The connection ends, and your number and your app stay yours. This ends the WhatsApp connection only: a subscription with your provider is cancelled with that provider.
Questions
Can I use the WhatsApp Business app and the API on the same number?
Yes, with WhatsApp coexistence your team keeps using the WhatsApp Business app while a connected system sends and receives on the same number through the API.
Will I lose my chat history?
No, your chats stay in the app, and you can choose to share the last six months of one-to-one chats with the connected system.
Do messages sent from the app start to cost money?
No, messages your team sends from the WhatsApp Business app stay free, and only messages sent through the API follow WhatsApp's API pricing.
Does WhatsApp Web keep working?
Yes, you can link WhatsApp Web and other companion devices again after connecting, except WhatsApp for Windows and WhatsApp for WearOS.
Can I disconnect later?
Yes, you can disconnect at any time in the app under Settings, Account, Business Platform, and your number stays yours.
Read next
Sources
- Meta for Developers — Onboard WhatsApp Business app users (Coexistence) — retrieved 28 October 2026
- Meta for Developers — Migrate an existing WhatsApp number to a business account — retrieved 28 October 2026
- Meta for Developers — Solution Partner overview — retrieved 28 October 2026
- Meta for Developers — Managing credit lines — retrieved 28 October 2026
- Meta for Developers — Embedded Signup overview — retrieved 28 October 2026
General information, checked on the date shown; not legal, tax or financial advice. Product names belong to their owners, and Anfigo is independent of Meta.
