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There are two ways to bring a number into Watx, and you choose between them on the first screen of WhatsApp → Channel Settings. Coexistence keeps the number on the WhatsApp Business app. You carry on replying from your phone, and those replies appear in the Watx inbox as well. Nothing is migrated and the app keeps working. The other route moves the number onto the Cloud API. The WhatsApp Business app stops working on it, and everything in Watx runs without the restrictions below.

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Which one to pick

Coexistence suits a business where the owner or a shop counter still answers WhatsApp on a phone. Migrating suits a team that will work entirely out of the shared inbox and sends at volume.
Both routes use your own WhatsApp Business Account, both run on the official Meta Cloud API, and both bill through Meta directly.

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Before you start

  • The WhatsApp Business app, version 2.24.17 or newer, on the phone that owns the number.
  • A Facebook account that administers your business.
  • That phone to hand. Meta shows a QR code you scan from the app to finish.
  • One number. Meta allows a single phone number on a WhatsApp Business Account used this way. If the account already has more than one, the connect is refused and says so.

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Connect

1

Open the channel settings

In the sidebar, open WhatsApp → Channel Settings. With nothing connected, the page asks How do you want to connect? and offers two cards.
2

Choose WhatsApp Business app (coexistence)

The card lists what you need and what changes. Choose a different way at the top goes back to the other route.
3

Press Continue with Facebook

A Facebook popup opens. Sign in with the admin account of your Meta business and grant the permissions it asks for.
4

Follow Meta's wizard

Confirm your business details and the WhatsApp Business Account. Meta’s screens for this route differ from the migration route, which is why Watx does not preview them.
5

Scan the QR code from the WhatsApp Business app

Open the app on the phone that owns the number and scan the code Meta shows.
6

Let Watx finish

Watx exchanges the authorisation code for an access token, finds the number on your WhatsApp Business Account, subscribes to the account so Meta delivers events, and stores the credentials encrypted.Registration is deliberately skipped on this route: Meta forbids re-registering a number the WhatsApp Business app still owns. That is not a failure, and the connected card says so under Mode.

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After connecting

The connected card is the same one described in Channel settings, with one extra row: Receiving events reads yes rather than a date on this route, because the registration call that normally stamps that date is the one Meta does not allow here. Messages your customers send arrive in the inbox as they do on any connection. Replies you send from the phone are delivered to Watx separately, as echoes of your own messages, and are filed into the same conversation so the thread stays whole. They are treated as your side of the conversation, not as a customer message: they do not mark the conversation unread, they do not reopen the 24-hour window, and they never trigger an automation, a flow or an AI agent.

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What Meta does not support on a coexistence number

These are Meta’s restrictions, not Watx’s, and they apply for as long as the number stays on the WhatsApp Business app.
  • Sending is fixed at 20 messages per second, whatever your messaging tier or spend. Broadcasts still work; large ones take longer.
  • Catalog, orders and status are not supported. Watx does not hide the Commerce page, so treat product messages and incoming orders as unavailable on this number until you migrate.
  • The app’s own messaging tools stop working — marketing messages, the away message and quick replies.
  • Disappearing messages, view-once messages and live location are switched off in one-to-one chats, and broadcast lists are disabled, in the WhatsApp Business app itself.
  • Group chats are not synchronised to Watx, voice and video calls are not supported, and channels are unavailable.
  • Linked devices are unlinked when you connect. You can link the supported ones again afterwards; WhatsApp for Windows and WhatsApp for WearOS are not supported at all, and a reply sent from one of those does not reach Watx.
If you rely on the catalogue, on broadcast lists, or on replying from WhatsApp for Windows, migrate the number instead of connecting it this way.

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Chat history and contacts are not imported

The chats and contacts already on the phone do not come across. The Watx inbox fills from the next message onwards, and contacts are created as people write in.
Meta only allows that import in the 24 hours after onboarding, and only once. It cannot be added to a number that is already connected — that would mean disconnecting and setting the number up again from scratch.

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Moving to the full API later

Disconnect first, in the WhatsApp Business app: Settings → Account → Business Platform. Meta does not allow a coexistence number to be deregistered through the API, so this has to be done from the phone. Once it is disconnected, run the connect again from WhatsApp → Channel Settings and pick WhatsApp Business API this time. Your contacts, conversations and templates in Watx are untouched by any of this — the connection is the only thing that changes.

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If something is not arriving

  • Replies sent from WhatsApp for Windows or a WearOS watch never reach Watx. Send from the phone or a supported linked device.
  • Registration being skipped is expected on this route and is not the fault — see WhatsApp delivery troubleshooting.
  • Anything else: Connect your number covers what “connected” means and what Verify with Meta checks.