Can I use the WhatsApp Business app and the WhatsApp API on the same number?
Yes. With WhatsApp Coexistence you can connect the number you already use in the WhatsApp Business app to ChatMaxima, and keep using the app on your phone at the same time.
What Coexistence means
Coexistence is a WhatsApp feature from Meta. One phone number works in two places: the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, and the WhatsApp Business API through ChatMaxima.
Replies you send from the app also appear in your ChatMaxima inbox, so your team always sees the full conversation. You can use chatbots, templates, broadcasts and the shared inbox on the same number your customers already know.
Before you start
- The number must be on the WhatsApp Business app, not the regular WhatsApp Messenger app. If it is on WhatsApp Messenger, move it to the WhatsApp Business app first. WhatsApp lets you keep your chats when you switch.
- Update the WhatsApp Business app to the latest version.
- Keep your phone with you. You confirm the connection inside the app.
- If the number is connected to another WhatsApp API provider, disconnect it there first. See Moving from another WhatsApp API provider below.
- Coexistence is not available in every country. Meta's signup window tells you if your number cannot use it.
How to connect your number
- In ChatMaxima, go to Channels, open WhatsApp and start the WhatsApp signup.
- Log in with Facebook and select or create your Meta Business portfolio.
- When Meta asks how you want to connect, choose the option to connect your existing WhatsApp Business app.
- Enter your phone number. Open the WhatsApp Business app on your phone and follow the steps it shows to confirm the connection.
- When the app asks whether to share your chat history, choose to share it if you want your past chats in ChatMaxima.
- Back in ChatMaxima, your number appears in your WhatsApp channels with a Coexistence badge.
Bringing over your chat history
If you agree to share your chat history in the app, ChatMaxima automatically imports your contacts and up to the last 6 months of one-to-one chats from the WhatsApp Business app. There is nothing else to click. A large history can take some time to appear in your inbox.
- Only chats stored in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone can be imported.
- Chats kept by another provider, for example in their dashboard or an export file, cannot be imported into ChatMaxima.
- If you choose not to share your history, ChatMaxima shows new messages only.
- Group chats are not imported.
Moving from another WhatsApp API provider
A number can be connected to only one WhatsApp API provider at a time, so disconnect it from your current provider first.
- If you still use the WhatsApp Business app on the number (your provider set it up with Coexistence), open the app and go to Settings > Account > Business Platform, then tap Disconnect. Your app and chats stay as they are. Then connect the number to ChatMaxima using the steps above.
- If the number runs only on the API (it is no longer on the WhatsApp Business app), ask your current provider to release the number and turn off two-step verification. You can then connect it to ChatMaxima as an API number. If you want Coexistence instead, register the number in the WhatsApp Business app first, then connect it using the steps above. In this case the chats from your old provider are not on your phone, so they cannot be imported.
- Download any past chats you want to keep from your old provider before you leave, for your own records.
Good to know
- Open the WhatsApp Business app on your phone regularly, at least once every 14 days. WhatsApp may disconnect a Coexistence number when the app is not used.
- WhatsApp Groups in ChatMaxima are not available for Coexistence numbers.
- To stop using ChatMaxima on the number, disconnect it in the app under Settings > Account > Business Platform. The app keeps working as before.