In 30 seconds
- Coexistence means using the same number in the WhatsApp Business app and on a platform built on the official API, at the same time. You reply from your phone or from a computer, and both show the same conversation.
- You need the WhatsApp Business app, version 2.24.17 or later, not regular WhatsApp. You do not delete the account or change your number.
- The platform receives up to 180 days of one-to-one chats, once, and only if you allow it on your phone. Groups and calls stay on the phone.
- On connecting, the phone loses four features: broadcast lists, disappearing messages, view once and live location.
- What you send from the phone stays free. What goes out through the API pays Meta's rate: from 1 October 2026, 1,000 free replies a month per number, then €0.0166 each in Spain.
- If the phone goes about 14 days without use, Meta disconnects the number from the platform.
What is WhatsApp coexistence, and who can use it?
Coexistence means connecting your WhatsApp Business app number to the official WhatsApp API without giving up the app. Meta documents it as onboarding "WhatsApp Business app users", and says support and partners call it "Coexistence".
Without coexistence, a number already on WhatsApp can only be registered on the API once its WhatsApp account has been deleted. From then on, the number no longer works in any WhatsApp app. With coexistence, the number stays on your phone and also joins a platform: a team inbox such as BlueMarlin, a CRM or an AI agent.
What you need:
- The WhatsApp Business app, version 2.24.17 or later. Regular WhatsApp will not do. Moving your number to WhatsApp Business is free and keeps your chats. If you saved contacts only inside WhatsApp, move them to your phone's address book first: the Business app does not bring them over.
- A Meta partner platform that offers this onboarding. You do not set up anything technical.
- Your phone at hand during setup, with the app open.
How you connect:
- On the platform, you choose to connect your WhatsApp Business number and type it in. WhatsApp shows you a code.
- In the app, you get a message from Meta's official account. You tap "Connect" and confirm whether you share your chat history.
- You paste the code and finish. It takes a few minutes, depending on the size of your history. Keep the app open while it syncs.
Meta's documentation sets no country or industry restrictions today: the requirements are the ones above.
What syncs and what does not?
One-to-one chats and contacts sync. Groups, calls and the app's tools stay on the phone only.
| What | Does it reach the platform? | On the phone |
|---|---|---|
| New one-to-one chats | Yes, both ways and straight away | You also see what is sent from the platform |
| One-to-one chat history | The last 180 days, once, if you allow it. Photos and files only from the last 14 days | No change |
| Contacts | Those on WhatsApp, then every addition, edit or removal | No change |
| Groups | No | Unchanged |
| Voice and video calls | No | Unchanged |
| Labels, quick replies, greeting and away messages | No | Unchanged |
| Catalogue, orders, status, business profile and channels | No | Unchanged |
| Broadcast lists | No | Turned off |
What is worth knowing about the history:
- It is requested only once. The platform has 24 hours from onboarding to fetch it. If it does not, or if it has to be done again, you disconnect and connect again.
- Nothing arrives without your permission. If you do not allow it on your phone, the platform only sees new messages.
If a customer edits or deletes a message, the change reaches the platform too.
What changes on the phone when you connect?
Day to day stays the same, but four features are turned off and linked devices are logged out.
- Broadcast lists: turned off. You cannot create new ones, and the ones you have become read-only. Sending to many customers moves to the platform, with templates approved by Meta. They are paid, and they can only go to people who have agreed to hear from you.
- Disappearing messages: turned off in all one-to-one chats.
- View once: turned off in one-to-one chats.
- Live location: turned off in one-to-one chats.
- Linked devices (WhatsApp Web, a computer, a tablet): all unlinked on connecting. You can link up to 4 again. WhatsApp for Windows and for Wear OS are not supported.
Everything else stays in the app: groups, calls, status, catalogue, labels, quick replies, away messages and the business profile.
One detail about Windows: if a customer writes to you from WhatsApp for Windows, their message does not reach the platform. You will see it only on the phone.
What does coexistence cost?
What you send from the phone stays free. What goes out through the API pays Meta's rate, as with any connected number.
According to Meta, messages sent from the app are not subject to the 24-hour window and "do not create, extend, or affect" the API's windows or its pricing. Only your customer opens the window: each message they send opens or restarts 24 hours in which the platform can reply with free text. Outside it, the platform can only send templates.
Spanish rates from 1 October 2026, per delivered message, before VAT:
| What | From the phone | From the platform (API) |
|---|---|---|
| Replying within 24 hours | Free | 1,000 free a month per number, then €0.0166 |
| Writing first, or after 24 hours | Free, with free text | Only with a template: €0.0166 for utility, €0.0585 for marketing |
| Templates (messages approved by Meta) | Cannot be sent from the app | By category |
| Sending to many customers | No longer: broadcast lists are turned off | Marketing template, €0.0585 per message |
| Groups and calls | Free | Do not go through the platform |
Two more things:
- The 1,000 free replies are per number and per month, and they do not roll over.
- Without a payment method on your Meta account, Meta delivers the 1,000 free ones and stops delivering the rest.
Every country's rates and examples of a month are in What WhatsApp costs from 1 October 2026.
Limits and things to know
Coexistence has two limits of its own: 20 messages per second, and a phone you have to keep using.
| Limit | What Meta says |
|---|---|
| API sending speed | 20 messages per second, fixed. A number on the API alone starts at 80 and can rise to 1,000 |
| People you can message with a template in 24 hours | Set per business portfolio and shared by all its numbers: 250 to start, then 2,000, 10,000, 100,000 and unlimited. What you send from the phone does not count |
| Phone left unused | About 14 days without activity and Meta disconnects the number from the platform |
- 20 messages per second is plenty for a small business. At that speed, 1,000 messages go out in under a minute. The real brake is the daily limit on people.
- Changing phones cuts the connection. Meta offboards the number when it registers on the new phone, and tells the platform when it reconnects.
- Changing your number, or moving it to regular WhatsApp, also disconnects it.
- The first message from someone new can take a few seconds to reach the platform. That is normal.
- Disconnecting is done from the app, not from the platform. The number stays on the phone.
Coexistence or a dedicated number?
Coexistence if your customers already know your number and you want to keep replying from the phone. A dedicated number if the team works only from the platform, or if you send a lot.
| Coexistence | Dedicated number | |
|---|---|---|
| The number | The one you already use in the WhatsApp Business app | One for the API alone: new, or one whose WhatsApp account you delete first |
| The phone | Keeps working with that number | The number no longer works in any WhatsApp app. It still works for calls and SMS |
| History | Up to 180 days of one-to-one chats, if you allow it | No history from the app |
| Replying from the phone | Yes, free | No |
| API speed | 20 messages per second | 80 messages per second, up to 1,000 |
| Broadcast lists | Turned off | Do not exist |
| Risk of disconnection | If the phone goes about 14 days unused | Does not depend on a phone |
When each one fits:
- Coexistence: a sole trader or a small team with a number their customers already know. Also anyone who replies on the go from the phone, or who wants to try a platform without touching their number.
- Dedicated number: a team that answers from several computers all day, sends large campaigns often, or does not want to depend on one particular phone.
- Neither: if you answer alone from one phone and labels and quick replies are enough, the free WhatsApp Business app will do.
BlueMarlin supports both: connecting the number you already use through coexistence, or working with a dedicated number.
Frequently asked questions
Do I lose my chats if I connect WhatsApp Business to a CRM?
No. Your chats stay on the phone as always. If you allow it when you connect, the platform also receives the last 180 days of one-to-one chats. Groups do not come over.
Can I use coexistence with regular WhatsApp?
No. It has to be the WhatsApp Business app, version 2.24.17 or later. Moving your number from regular WhatsApp to WhatsApp Business is free and keeps your chats. Contacts saved only inside WhatsApp are best moved to your phone's address book first.
Can I keep replying from my phone?
Yes, and it is free. What you write on the phone shows up on the platform, and what is sent from the platform shows up on the phone. Replying from the phone does not open or extend the API's 24-hour window.
Can I send a campaign to all my contacts?
Not as before: broadcast lists are turned off when you connect. From the platform you can send a marketing template approved by Meta, only to people who have agreed to hear from you. Each delivered message is paid: €0.0585 in Spain.
What if a customer wrote to me just before I connected?
That message does not open the 24-hour window on the platform, so from there you could only reply with a template. Reply from the phone, which is free and has no such rule. Messages that arrive after onboarding open the window as normal.
How do I disconnect the number from the platform?
From the WhatsApp Business app: Settings > Account > Business Platform > Disconnect Account. The platform cannot deregister it through the API. The number stays on your phone.
Sources
All of the above was checked on 30 September 2026 against Meta's official documentation and the WhatsApp Help Center:
- Onboard WhatsApp Business app users: requirements (version 2.24.17), onboarding steps, what syncs and what is turned off, linked devices, 20 messages per second, 180 days of history, the 24-hour window, how to disconnect and the disconnection reasons (14 days unused, number change, move to regular WhatsApp).
- API solutions for WhatsApp Business App users (Meta PDF): what is sent from the app stays free and does not count towards the API's limits; templates can only be sent through the API; groups, calls and status stay in the app.
- Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform, page updated 28 September 2026: 1,000 free service messages a month per number, no roll-over, what happens without a payment method, and the EUR rate sheet from 1 October 2026 (Spain: service and utility €0.0166, marketing €0.0585).
- Throughput: 80 messages per second by default, up to 1,000, and a fixed 20 with coexistence.
- Messaging limits: the per-portfolio limit on people and its levels.
- Send messages: customer service windows: the 24-hour window and customer opt-in.
- Phone numbers: a number in use on WhatsApp has to be deleted before it can be registered on the API alone.
- account_update webhook: offboarding and reconnection after a phone change.
- How to move your WhatsApp Messenger account to the WhatsApp Business app: moving from regular WhatsApp to WhatsApp Business with your chats, and the contacts that do not move.
Change history
- 30 September 2026: first version.
Keep reading
- WhatsApp Business with multiple users: what the app allows The free app lets you run one number from your phone and up to 4 linked devices at once, but it does not share out the chats. What breaks as the team grows, what the options are and what each one costs. Read the guide
- What WhatsApp costs from 1 October 2026 What Meta charges for each message, what stays free, what changes on 1 October and what a normal month comes to. With every country's rates and the official sources. Read the guide
- WhatsApp bulk messages: how to send without getting banned A broadcast list is free, but it only reaches people who have saved your number. To reach everyone without risking the number there are two paid official routes, at €0.0585 a message in Spain. Read the guide
