Onboarding WhatsApp Business app users (aka "Coexistence") | Developer Documentation

Keep using the WhatsApp Business app with ChatArchitect

ChatArchitect supports connecting a number already used in the WhatsApp Business app while keeping the app active on that number. Meta calls this arrangement coexistence. It lets you continue one-to-one conversations in the Business app and use a supported ChatArchitect integration with the same number.

Before you connect

• Keep access to the phone with the WhatsApp Business app, the number, and the Facebook account and business portfolio that will own the WhatsApp Business connection.
• Tell ChatArchitect support that you want to keep the Business app on the existing number. Ask them to confirm the available connection route and any account-specific requirements before changing the number's registration. The exact entry point in ChatArchitect has not been verified for every account.
• Do not delete the Business app account to make the number available. Deleting it is a different migration path and can affect your chats.
• Review how your connected CRM or help desk handles messages and history from the Business app. Meta may offer chat-history sharing during setup, but that does not confirm which earlier chats will appear in your particular integration.

Follow the connection flow

1. Start the ChatArchitect number connection using the route confirmed for your account. In the Meta flow, choose the option to connect an existing WhatsApp Business app number if it is offered. If you only see an option to register a new number, stop and ask ChatArchitect support which route to use.
2. Follow the instructions shown by Meta and in the Business app. Meta may send a message from the official Facebook Business account with a Connect to the Business Platform action and ask you to confirm the connection in the app. Enter a verification code only in the Meta or Business app screen that requested it; do not send the code to support.
3. If Meta asks whether to share contacts or chat history, review that choice before confirming. Continue until ChatArchitect shows the number as connected. A completed Meta screen alone does not prove that your ChatArchitect integration is ready.
4. Test an ordinary conversation in the Business app and a message in the connected ChatArchitect tool. Check the final outcome in each place before scheduling a campaign. Create or check an approved template for sends that require one.

Check history, contacts and app sends separately

After confirming the connection, use the checklists for earlier chat history, address-book synchronization and messages sent from the Business app. Confirm what the exact integration receives and displays before relying on a shared conversation view or automatic CRM changes. Keeping the app active does not establish the scope of those workflows.

If setup or messages do not appear

Keep the Business app account in place while the issue is investigated. Record the connected number, the screen where setup stopped, the approximate time, and any error text. If a tool is missing a conversation, tell support whether it was sent in the Business app or the ChatArchitect integration and whether you chose to share history. Do not share verification codes or the full App Secret in screenshots or messages.

Some Meta features and limits may differ while a number is used in both places. Ask ChatArchitect support to confirm the current behavior of the connected tool before relying on synchronized history or a particular sending speed.