WhatsApp Coexistence: the app and the API on one number
The number already running in your customer’s WhatsApp Business app can be authorised on the official Cloud API and keep working on their phone at the same time. No QR code, no number change, no lost history.
What it is
Coexistence is Meta’s name for onboarding a number that already runs in the WhatsApp Business app. Instead of dedicating the number to the API — which removes it from the phone — authorisation happens on top of what already exists. After it, the same number answers from both sides.
| Dedicated connection | Coexistence | |
|---|---|---|
| Number stays in the phone app | No | Yes |
| Chat history | Not migrated | Stays on the device |
| Manual replies from the app | No longer possible | Still work |
| Requires a new number | Often yes | No |
| QR code | No | No |
Why it decides the deal
For anyone operating other people’s numbers, the objection that kills a migration to the official API is rarely price. It is this: my customer will lose their WhatsApp.
And it is a fair objection. On a dedicated connection the business owner loses the app on their phone, loses the visible history, and loses the ability to answer a customer from the street. For a large share of small businesses, no amount of automation compensates for that. Coexistence removes the objection instead of arguing with it.
How it works
- You generate a connection link and send it to your customer.
- They open it and go through Meta’s Embedded Signup, authorising on their own business account.
- They pick the number they already use and confirm on their phone.
- You get the key and the webhook. The number stays in their app, and messages start arriving in your system.
The limits to know before you sell it
Coexistence is not a dedicated connection with a bonus. It carries its own restrictions, and finding them after signing a contract is worse than reading them now.
- The app must stay installed and be opened periodically. Uninstalling the WhatsApp Business app disconnects the account. Providers document a roughly two-week window for opening the app at least once — the exact figure varies between 13 and 14 days across their documentation.
- No Official Business Account badge. The blue badge does not apply to numbers on coexistence.
- Standard business verification does not apply. Verification runs through a different path, partner-led or via Meta Verified.
- The number does not move between WhatsApp Business Accounts. A coexistence number stays on the WABA it was authorised on.
- Throughput is lower than on a dedicated connection — provider documentation puts it around twenty messages per second. For high-volume broadcasting, a dedicated connection is still the right tool.
Frequently asked questions
What is WhatsApp Coexistence?
It is Meta’s official feature for onboarding a number that is already in use in the WhatsApp Business app. Once authorised, the same number works both ways at once: it stays on the phone with its history and manual replies, and it starts sending and receiving over the Cloud API.
Does the customer lose their chat history?
No. Conversations stay in the app, on their device. What arrives and what is sent there is mirrored to your system as an event, so your side sees the whole conversation without the customer losing anything.
Is a QR code involved?
No. QR codes are how unofficial integrations open a WhatsApp Web session, which is why those sessions drop and have to be re-scanned. Coexistence authorises the number through the business’s own Meta account, once, via Embedded Signup. There is no browser session to keep alive.
Does the customer need a new number?
No — that is the entire point. With a dedicated connection the number leaves the app and exists only on the API. With coexistence it lives in both.
Is coexistence exclusive to CRPRO Hub?
No. It is a Meta platform feature, and other official providers support it too. What no unofficial integration can do is coexistence — they depend on a WhatsApp Web session, which is the opposite mechanism.