Your number
Stays the same. You don't apply for a new one, and customers message the same number they always have.
Switching over
Your WhatsApp number stays yours
Plenty of businesses put off the switch because they're afraid of losing their number, their app, or their chat history. Here's exactly what changes, and what doesn't.
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The short version
What changes, in five questions
Your chats
Up to 180 days of history moves over once. Group chats don't come along, those stay in the app only.
The app on your phone
Keeps working. You can still reply from it yourself while your team works in the inbox.
Your business profile
Your name, photo, address, and website don't change. Those belong to your account, not to the app.
If you ever leave
You disconnect your number from inside the app itself. After that it works the way it did before the switch.
How the switch works
From your current number to the inbox
1
You connect your number
Through Meta's own sign-up screen: your existing WhatsApp Business number moves onto the official platform. We're a Meta Tech Provider, so there's no separate developer application needed.
2
Your history comes across
Within 24 hours of connecting, up to 180 days of chats come across automatically. Keep the app open during that window, it speeds the transfer up.
3
Your team gets access
From that point your team works together in the inbox. You stay reachable through the app too.
Connecting itself usually takes a few minutes. How long the history transfer takes depends on how many conversations there are. Your number stays reachable throughout, there's no window where your phone stops working.
In the WhatsApp Business app
What doesn't change
The parts you already use today keep working the way they do now.
- Your greeting message, away message, quick replies, and labels stay active in the app.
- Voice and video calls through the app still work.
- Your catalog, orders, and other in-app business tools still work.
- Group chats in the app still work, though they don't carry over to the inbox.
- Editing a message actually gains a feature: after the switch that works in the app too, up to 15 minutes after sending. Deleting works up to 2 days after.
What to watch for
The real risk: the same message twice
Your greeting and away message keep running in the app, even after the switch. Turn on a welcome or away message in the inbox too, and a customer can end up with both. Turn off the app setting once you're using the inbox version.
What Meta does turn off
A few features go dark
- Disappearing messages and view once messages stop working in your one-on-one chats.
- Live location sharing stops working.
- Existing broadcast lists become read-only, and you can't create new ones.
- Other linked devices, up to 4, get disconnected. You can relink them after the switch, except WhatsApp for Windows and WearOS, those never work alongside the API.
- As long as your number is on both the app and the inbox, sending is capped at 20 messages per second. That's enough for almost any business.
Price
What it costs
The switch itself is free. You pay for the plan that fits how many people work in it, and Meta bills separately for the messages you start.
Common questions
About switching with your existing number
Your number stays yours.
Start free and connect your existing number through Meta's own signup screen. 30 days, no credit card required.
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