Migrating from WhatsApp Business to the official APIwithout changing your number
You sell on WhatsApp from a phone, the team has grown and the app no longer cuts it: one device, nothing connected to your CRM and the risk that a mass send costs you the number. Moving to the official API does not mean changing your number. Here is what changes, what carries over and how to do it without losing customers along the way.
Can you move from WhatsApp Business to the API without changing your number?
Yes. The same WhatsApp Business app number can be registered on Meta's official API in two ways. With coexistence, the number keeps working in the app and on the API at the same time, and your contacts and up to six months of individual chats are synced. With a full migration, you delete the app account and the number moves to the API alone, without the history.
Either way the number stays the same and your customers do not have to save a new one. What changes is how you operate: the API lets several people and an AI agent handle the same number, connects it to your CRM and ERP, and lets you message customers first with approved templates, under a daily limit that grows with quality.
What changes from the WhatsApp Business app to the API
The app and the API share the name and the number, but they are different products. The app is built for answering by hand from a phone; the API, for a company to run the channel with its systems.
The API is paid per message to Meta, based on the customer's country and the message category. The full model is in how much the WhatsApp Business API costs.
| Aspect | WhatsApp Business app | Official WhatsApp API |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers | One person from the phone and its linked devices | Several people and an AI agent on the same number |
| Integration | Does not connect to your CRM or your ERP | Integrates with the CRM, the ERP and payment gateways |
| Messaging many customers | Broadcast lists, which only reach people who saved your number | Templates approved by Meta, under a daily limit that grows with quality |
| After hours | Automatic away message and quick replies | An agent that answers, quotes and takes orders at any hour |
| Cost | The app is free | Paid per message to Meta, by country and category |
| Setup | Downloaded on the phone | Activated through an official provider (BSP) or directly with Meta |
Comparison based on Meta's documentation for the WhatsApp Business app and the WhatsApp Business Platform.
Number, history and contacts: what carries over when you migrate
It depends on the path. Coexistence keeps almost everything; a full migration keeps the number and leaves the history behind.
| What | With coexistence | With full migration |
|---|---|---|
| The number | Kept, and still active in the app | Kept, but it only works on the API |
| Contacts | Synced to the API | Not transferred: load them into the CRM first |
| Chat history | Up to six months of individual chats; group chats are not synced | Does not move to the API: back it up before deleting the account |
| Photos, voice notes and documents | Only those from the last two weeks | Not transferred |
| The app on the phone | Keeps working for answering by hand | Stops working with that number |
| Broadcast lists | Become read-only | Lost with the app account |
Based on Meta's documentation on coexistence and migration, and on the official providers (BSPs) that implement them.
Which path to choose: if your team wants to keep answering from the phone while the agent handles the rest, coexistence is the natural path. If the number will be used only by the agent and the support desk, a full migration is simpler and has more sending capacity.
Coexistence: the app and the API on the same number
Meta lets you connect a number you already use in the WhatsApp Business app to the API, without deleting it. Messages are mirrored on both sides: what the agent answers shows up in the app, and what a person writes from the phone is recorded on the API.
You turn it on through an official provider's guided signup: you scan a QR code from the app and, at that point, choose whether to share your chat history. It comes with conditions worth knowing up front.
- App version: WhatsApp Business 2.24.17 or later.
- Keep the app in use: you have to open it at least once every 14 days for the connection to stay active.
- Features that turn off: disappearing messages, view-once messages and live location are disabled in individual chats; broadcast lists become read-only.
- Sending capacity: a coexistence number is capped at 20 messages per second, lower than a number that runs only on the API.
- Availability by country: Meta has been rolling it out region by region; confirm with your provider that it is active for your country code.
How long the migration takes and what it depends on
The technical part is short: with the requirements in place, connecting the number takes minutes. What sets the calendar is Meta's reviews and the preparation on your side.
Business verification is not required to get started, but it matters: without it, the account can message 250 different people a day first; once verified, the limit goes up in tiers based on quality and volume. That is why it pays to start it before you migrate.
| Stage | What it depends on | What slows it down |
|---|---|---|
| Meta business portfolio | Having your company's portfolio (formerly Business Manager) with admin access | Nobody knowing who manages it, or it being in a third party's name |
| Business verification | The company's legal documents | Documents whose name or address do not match what was entered |
| Display name | Meta's review of the name your customers see | A name that does not match your brand or the verified company |
| Number registration | Receiving the verification code by text message or phone call | Two-step verification still on or, in a full migration, the app account not yet deleted |
| Templates | The review of each template: most are settled in minutes and some go to manual review | A promotion submitted as a utility notice, or badly built variables |
Meta's review times vary from case to case. Your official provider can see the status of each stage in WhatsApp Manager.
Seven mistakes when migrating to the WhatsApp API
Almost every migration problem can be seen coming. These are the ones that cost the most days, and all of them are avoided with a week of preparation.
- Deleting without a backup: in a full migration the history does not move to the API. Export the chats you need to keep first.
- Two-step verification: with the PIN still on in the app, the number is not released for registration on the API.
- Unclear owner: if the number is in a sales rep's name, decide who owns it first; the API account has to be in your company's name.
- Account in the provider's name: the WhatsApp Business account belongs in your company's portfolio; if a third party creates it in its own name, you will depend on them to move the number.
- Campaigns on day one: the account starts with a small limit and a quality rating still to build. Sending to contacts without consent stalls the limit and pauses templates, as we explain in how to keep your WhatsApp number from being blocked.
- Wrong template category: Meta reviews the content, and a promotion submitted as a utility notice gets rejected or recategorized.
- Not telling the team: if nobody knows which conversations the agent handles and which a person does, the customer gets two answers or none.
How to migrate from WhatsApp Business to the API, step by step
Order matters: what you prepare first keeps the number from going days without anyone answering.
Back up and organize
Export the chats you need, load your customers into the CRM and note which broadcast lists you use and what for.
Set up the Meta portfolio
Create or recover your company's business portfolio and start business verification with your legal documents.
Choose the path
Coexistence if the team keeps using the app; full migration if the number goes to the API. For the second, turn off two-step verification and delete the app account.
Register the number
With the official provider, you connect the number to your company's WhatsApp Business account and verify it with a code by text message or phone call.
Display name and templates
Enter the name your customers will see and the first templates: order confirmation, quote follow-up and reminders.
Connect the agent and your systems
The agent starts answering on the API, integrated with your CRM and your ERP, with clear rules for handing off to people.
The Meta numbers worth knowing before you migrate
Figures from Meta's official documentation to plan the migration. Meta revises them often: check the current ones before you start.
6 months
Of individual chats that can be synced when you connect an app number to the API with coexistence
250
Different people a day that a new, unverified account can message first, with templates
1,000
Free service messages per number per month, for replying to customers who write first
Caveats: the limit counts different people over a rolling 24 hours and only messages the business starts outside the customer service window; replying to someone who writes first does not use it up. The six-month sync applies only to coexistence. Meta updates these rules several times a year.
Sellium: the agent that answers your number on the API
Sellium runs on the official API with your company's number. We support the migration and connect the agent to your CRM and your ERP, so the day the number moves to the API it is already selling.
Sellium
AI sales agent for WhatsApp
Sellium is Vantegrate's AI sales agent for WhatsApp: it runs on the official API, answers instantly, quotes with your rules, takes orders and logs every conversation in your CRM, around the clock.
Explore SelliumSecure AI agents
Sellium runs 100% on Salesforce and Oracle Cloud infrastructure, certified SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001. Vantegrate enables, the customer operates and certifies.
See the security modelISV and Consulting PartnerRuns inside your Salesforce
Sellium reads and writes your objects, respects your profiles and permissions, and works alongside Agentforce and your existing flows.
Vantegrate and SalesforceFrequently asked questions about migrating from WhatsApp Business to the API
What companies selling on WhatsApp from a phone ask before moving to the official API.
Do I lose my number if I move to the WhatsApp API?
Do I lose my number if I move to the WhatsApp API?
No. The number is the same in the app and on the API, and your customers do not have to save a new one. What you can lose is the history: with coexistence, up to six months of individual chats are synced; with a full migration the history does not move to the API, so back it up first.
Can I keep using the WhatsApp Business app with the API?
Can I keep using the WhatsApp Business app with the API?
Yes, with Meta's coexistence: the same number works in the app and on the API, and messages are mirrored on both sides. You need an up-to-date app and have to open it at least once every 14 days, and some features, like disappearing messages and broadcast lists, stop being available.
What happens to my contacts and chats when I migrate?
What happens to my contacts and chats when I migrate?
With coexistence, contacts are synced and so are individual chats from the last six months; group chats are not, and media only from the last two weeks. A full migration transfers none of that, so load your customers into the CRM before deleting the app account.
Do I need to verify my business with Meta to use the API?
Do I need to verify my business with Meta to use the API?
It is not required to get started, but it is worth it. Unverified, the account can only message 250 different people a day first, with templates; with the business verified, the limit goes up in tiers based on the quality and volume of your messages. Replying to someone who writes first does not count against that limit.
How long does migrating to the WhatsApp API take?
How long does migrating to the WhatsApp API take?
Connecting the number takes minutes; what drives the timing is Meta's reviews: business verification, the display name and the templates. With your documents in order it usually goes quickly, and when documents or the name need fixing, each review adds days.
How much does moving to the API with Sellium cost?
How much does moving to the API with Sellium cost?
The API is paid to Meta per message, on your own account: the details are in how much the WhatsApp Business API costs. Sellium is priced separately, in two parts: an initial implementation quoted for your company and a monthly subscription with expandable AI credits, with no lock-in and no markup on Meta's messages. Request a quote.
Move to the API without losing a single customer
Tell us how you sell on WhatsApp, how many people answer the number and which systems you use. We will put together the migration plan and show you Sellium answering your number from day one.