Coexistence: what works, what switches off, and what to do if your phone resets

“Coexistence” is Meta’s term for letting one phone number stay active in the WhatsApp Business app on a phone at the same time it is connected to the WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) through a provider like WaCRM. Before coexistence existed, connecting a number to the Cloud API meant giving up the phone app entirely — coexistence removes that trade-off for many shops.

What keeps working

• The WhatsApp Business app on your phone — you can still open it, see conversations, and reply.
• Your business profile — display name, photo, description and catalogue stay as set.
• Calling and status, where supported by your account type.

What changes

• Shared conversation state. A message read or replied to in the inbox shows as handled in the phone app too, and vice versa — the two are views onto the same conversation, not separate inboxes.
• Some phone-app-only features may be limited once the Cloud API is the primary way messages route — check the current behaviour for your account type before relying on a specific phone-only feature for daily operations.
• One source of truth for staff. We recommend deciding which staff use the inbox and which, if any, keep using the phone app directly, to avoid two people replying to the same customer separately.

If your phone is lost, reset, or replaced

1. Don’t reset the device before telling us if you can avoid it — message WhatsApp support or email [email protected] first.
2. We check whether the phone app needs to be re-linked to the number after the device change, and walk you through it.
3. Your Cloud API connection (and therefore WaCRM’s inbox) is not tied to the physical phone, so your team can usually keep working from the inbox while the phone app is being re-linked.

Getting coexistence turned on

Quick Setup includes turning on coexistence as part of connecting your number — see Quick Setup or the Embedded Signup guide for the full connection process.