WhatsApp Business App and API on the Same Number: How Coexistence Works

If your team already talks to customers in the WhatsApp Business app, connecting the official API used to mean giving up the app on that number. Coexistence changes that: the number can live on the phone and on the API at once.

Search results on this topic disagree with each other, partly because the feature is new and partly because older articles describe the time before it existed. This post is a plain answer, based on Meta's documentation for onboarding WhatsApp Business app users and on what we see when customers connect numbers to Bitrix24.

Can I use the WhatsApp Business app and the API at the same time?

Yes, on one condition: the number has to be onboarded in coexistence mode. Coexistence lets a number stay in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone while it is also connected to Meta's Cloud API.

Without it, the rule is the older one. A number registered on the API is no longer usable in the WhatsApp app, so you pick one or the other. With coexistence you get both, with some limits that are listed below.

What exactly is coexistence?

It is a Meta onboarding path for businesses that already use the WhatsApp Business app. Three things define it:

• One-to-one chats are mirrored both ways. A message a customer sends appears in the app and reaches the API. A reply typed on the phone shows up on the API side too, and a reply sent through the API shows in the app.
• History can be shared once. At onboarding, the business can choose to share the last 6 months of one-to-one chat history with the API provider. It is a choice, not automatic.
• The phone stays in use. Your people keep the app they know, and your CRM gets a copy of the conversation.

For a Bitrix24 team the practical effect is that conversations that used to sit on one phone can now be attached to leads and deals, visible to everyone with access, without asking the person on the phone to stop using WhatsApp.

What do I need before I start?

Meta sets two requirements:

1. WhatsApp Business app version 2.24.17 or later on the phone.
2. A provider that is a Meta Tech Provider. WASync is one, so the Embedded Signup window opens from inside our app.

Also have a Facebook account that administers the business portfolio, and a payment method ready for the WhatsApp Business account at Meta. More on that below, because it is the most common reason a freshly connected number "does nothing".

What are the limits of coexistence?

This is where most articles are vague, so here is the list as we verified it:

• Throughput is fixed at 20 messages per second. For a sales or support team this is far above what you will use. It matters only if you plan very large sends.
• Group chats are not synced to the API. They stay in the phone app.
• Broadcast lists in the app are disabled on a coexistence number.
• Disappearing and view-once messages are turned off for one-to-one chats.
• Voice and video calls are not available through the API on a coexistence number. The phone app can still make and receive calls.
• Messages you send from the phone do not open the 24-hour customer-service window. This one catches teams out, and the next section explains it.

None of these is a bug in a particular tool. They are properties of the feature as Meta defines it.

Why does a reply from the CRM sometimes need a template?

WhatsApp's 24-hour rule says you can send free-form messages only within 24 hours of the customer's last message to you. Outside that window, the API requires an approved template.

On a coexistence number, a message your colleague sends from the phone does not open that window. Suppose a customer writes on Monday, your colleague answers from the phone on Tuesday, and on Wednesday someone wants to follow up from the CRM. Until the customer writes again, the CRM may need a template to reach them.

The practical habit: if a conversation is likely to continue in the CRM, answer from the CRM, or have templates for the common follow-ups approved in advance. If you are new to the window itself, our post on the 24-hour rule covers a related corner of it.

What does it cost?

Two different things are billed, and coexistence keeps them separate:

• Messages sent from the phone stay free, as they always were in the app.
• Messages sent through the API follow Meta's per-message pricing. That is billed by Meta to the payment method on your WhatsApp Business account, not by us.

That payment method is not optional. If none is attached to the WhatsApp Business account at Meta, sending is blocked. In WhatsApp Manager it lives under Billing and payments. For a breakdown of what the API costs in practice, see our guide to WhatsApp API cost.

On the WASync side, an API connection is $29 per month (list price) and a QR connection is $19 per month, both with a 7-day free trial. See WASync plans for the current details.

How does it compare: app only, coexistence, API only?

One note on the calls row: in WASync, WhatsApp calls from the CRM are not available on a coexistence number. The Call button is disabled with an explanation, and the phone app can still call.

How do I connect a coexistence number to Bitrix24 with WASync?

The steps in the app are short:

1. In WASync, go to Connections and choose Add WABA (Facebook).
2. Meta's Embedded Signup window opens. Sign in to Facebook, pick or create the business portfolio and the WhatsApp Business account.
3. When Meta asks about the number, choose the path to keep using the WhatsApp Business app. If you are sharing history, this is where you decide.
4. WASync finishes the registration, and the number gets a new Open Line in Bitrix24.
5. Make sure the WhatsApp Business account has a payment method at Meta.

From there, your team replies from Open Lines or the CRM widget, and the phone keeps working. If you want the longer walkthrough, see how to connect WhatsApp to Bitrix24.

Two things stay on QR only. WhatsApp groups are bridged into Bitrix24 only on a QR connection, so a team that depends on groups should keep a QR connection for that number or another one.

Is it reversible?

Mostly, but treat it as a one-way door when you plan it. Moving back to a QR connection means leaving coexistence on the phone and scanning the QR code again. That is a normal supported step, yet it is a real change to how the number is registered, so do it at a quiet moment and not as a test during a busy sales day.

If you are not sure which model you want, start with the comparison in our post on API vs Business App, which sets QR and API side by side in more detail. For the short version of coexistence in WASync, with its limits in one table, see WhatsApp coexistence.

Who should choose what?

Stay on QR if your team relies on WhatsApp groups, wants the quickest setup, or does not need templates and the Meta billing model. It is the lighter option at $19 per month.

Choose coexistence if you have an established number that customers know, people on the team still prefer the phone app, and you want the official API and a CRM copy of every one-to-one conversation without a hard switch. Accept the limits: no groups on the API, no calls via the API, and templates when the 24-hour window is closed.

Choose API only if the number will be run entirely from the CRM and automations, you want features built around templates and proactive messaging, and nobody needs the phone app on that number.

Run both if you have more than one number. A common split is a QR connection for groups and informal chats, and an API connection for customer-facing sales and support.

Ready to try it? Start the 7-day trial from WASync plans, then add a number from Connections.