Many businesses have years of conversations on the WhatsApp Business phone app and do not want to change numbers to use a system. Coexistence solves that: the same number lives on the app and on the official API at the same time.
What Coexistence is
It is Meta's official way to connect a number that is already on the WhatsApp Business app to the API. The app keeps working on your phone, and conversations also show up in the connected system, such as InvestCRM.
How to connect
- In InvestCRM, under Connections, choose WhatsApp Business Coexistence mode.
- In the Meta window, sign in with Facebook, pick the business portfolio and type the number that is already on the app.
- When the window shows the QR code, open WhatsApp Business on your phone, go to the "Facebook Business" chat and tap Connect to scan the code. Do not use the camera or Linked devices.
- Your contacts come along; if you confirm on the phone, up to 6 months of one-to-one chats come too (photos, audio and files only from the last 14 days). Group chats do not.
What stays the same
- You keep answering on your phone as usual.
- What you type on the phone also shows up in InvestCRM.
- The business profile (name, photo and description) is still edited in the phone app.
What changes
- Sending is capped at 20 messages per second.
- On that number, the app loses disappearing messages, view once, live location and broadcast lists (existing ones become read-only).
- Linked devices are disconnected; WhatsApp for Windows and Wear OS do not come back.
Want to read the rules at the source? See Meta's Coexistence documentation
Working alongside the AI
With Coexistence, the InvestCRM AI can answer while you use your phone. By default, replying on the phone does not pause the AI. To have a team reply, from the Inbox or the phone, pause the AI for that customer, turn on "Pause the AI when an agent replies (including from the phone)" under Settings → Human support.
When to use it, and when not to
Coexistence is great for customer service: team, AI, pipeline and history in one place, without changing numbers. It has a fixed cap of 20 messages per second, above the maximum pace of one InvestCRM broadcast (600 per minute); if you run many large broadcasts at the same time, an API-only number gives you more headroom.
Messages sent through InvestCRM follow the API rules: to message a customer first you need an approved template, and Meta charges according to its official rate card. Messages you send from the phone app stay free.
Want the full API walkthrough? Read the official API guide
By Consig Invest, the InvestCRM team
