Coexistence is Meta’s mode in which the WhatsApp Business app stays on the phone and the official API (Cloud API) starts using the same number. A one-to-one chat lives on both sides: what someone types on the phone shows up for the platform, and what the platform sends shows up on the phone.

It is not a second SIM, it is not WhatsApp Web standing in for the API, and it is not a hack of “separate tracks”. It is a mode Meta publishes for businesses that already work in the app and want a team, campaigns and flows on the API without retiring the phone.

What Meta means by coexistence

The number is already on WhatsApp Business, on someone’s phone. When that number joins Cloud API in this mode, the app is not switched off. Meta mirrors person-to-person chats between the app and the API.

Older history can come along, once, if the business allows it at connection time: one-to-one chats from up to about 6 months (180 days). Groups are not in that package. A business that declines sharing starts on the platform without that past.

A practical detail: on connection, linked devices (WhatsApp Web and other companions) are logged out. Supported companions can be linked again. The Windows app and the watch app (Wear OS) are not on that list.

What coexistence is not

  • WhatsApp Web with several agents. Web is a companion of the app. It is not the official API and it is not coexistence.
  • One SIM for the API and another for the phone. That is two numbers. Coexistence is one number.
  • A dedicated API number. On that other path the number lives on Cloud API and the app leaves. It fits when the operation no longer needs the phone. The comparison is in Cloud API or coexistence.
  • An unofficial tool. Coexistence is Meta’s own flow. A product that asks for a WhatsApp Web QR code and calls itself an “API” is not this mode.

What moves from one side to the other

  • One-to-one chats, both ways, from the moment of connection.
  • Up to about 6 months of one-to-one history, if the business allows it. Once, at onboarding.
  • Contacts that have WhatsApp, in the same kind of sync.
  • Editing and deleting a message in the app, which this mode supports.

An old media file does not always come with the history: Meta sends the file for media from the 14 days before connection. The rest of the history can arrive as text, without the attachment.

What stays on the phone

  • Groups. They stay in the app and are not copied to the API.
  • Broadcast lists. New lists cannot be created. Existing ones become read-only, and they do not move to the API.
  • Disappearing messages, view-once and live location. These are turned off for individual chats. The API does not offer those types either.
  • Voice and video calls, catalog, orders and status. They stay in the app. Cloud API does not cover them in this mode.

What you keep and what you leave behind at connection time is in connect the API without losing chats. Day-to-day behavior after it is on is in app and API on the same number.

Limits Meta publishes

  • A coexistence number has a fixed cap of 20 messages per second.
  • The primary phone has to open the app regularly. About 14 days idle disconnects that device.
  • Uninstalling WhatsApp Business drops the link with the API. The phone is part of the mode, not an extra.
  • Changing phones or registering the number again can drop the API until the account is reconnected.

Where GrowHub fits

GrowHub is Growsoft’s panel for the official API: several agents, departments, template campaigns, flows and reports. In coexistence, that panel sits on the API side. The app stays with the person who holds the number.

What GrowHub does not replace: the phone, the groups, and the decision to share history. Teams that still need the phone use coexistence. Teams that want the number only on the API, with no app, use a dedicated Cloud API number — and the same panel runs the team.

Plans start at R$ 147 per month for the platform. Conversations sent through the API follow Meta’s price list and are not part of that subscription.

Source for the limits: Meta’s documentation on onboarding a WhatsApp Business app number to Cloud API, Onboard WhatsApp Business app users, read in October 2026. Meta can change a rule or a time window.