Connect your existing WhatsApp Business app to Broadcaster

Already using the WhatsApp Business app on your phone? You can connect that same number to Broadcaster and keep using both, side by side. You carry on chatting to customers one to one in the app, and Broadcaster handles your reminders, bulk messages and automation. This takes about fifteen minutes, and you will need your computer and your phone next to each other.

What you get

When you connect this way (Meta sometimes calls it “coexistence”), nothing is taken away from you:

• You keep your existing number and carry on using the WhatsApp Business app on your phone exactly as you do now.
• Your messages appear in both places. A reply you type in the app on your phone shows up in Broadcaster’s Message Hub, and messages sent from Broadcaster show in your app.
• You can bring your past chats across. Up to six months of previous conversations can be imported, if you choose to share them. You start this yourself during setup (see Step 10 below).
• You can bring your contacts across too, so you are not starting from an empty list. This is a separate choice during setup, so you can take one, both, or neither.

This is the big difference from setting up a brand new number. With a new number you start fresh and old chats are not carried over. With this method your history and contacts can be brought across, and you lose nothing on your phone.

One thing to know up front: bringing your contacts and chats across is a one-time step you do during setup, and it has to be done within 24 hours of connecting. After that the option closes, so do not skip it if you want your history. Messages you send from the app keep appearing in Broadcaster from then on, with no extra steps.

Before you begin

• Update the WhatsApp Business app first. You need version 2.24.17 or higher, or you will not see the option to connect. Update it from your phone’s app store before you start.
• Have your phone to hand. Part of this happens on your computer and part on your phone, so you will switch between the two.
• Keep the app open on your phone during setup so your past chats and contacts can finish coming across. This can take a few minutes.
• You will log in with your Facebook account to authorise the connection, the same as any WhatsApp setup.

How to connect

Step 1: Start in Broadcaster

On the Connect WhatsApp Business Account screen, click Connect your WhatsApp account. A Meta window opens on top.

Step 2: Log in and give permission

Log in with your Facebook account, then click Get Started to give Broadcaster permission to send and receive messages on your behalf.

Step 3: Choose to connect your existing app

When asked how you want to set up, choose Connect your existing WhatsApp Business App.

Step 4: Enter your existing number

Type the phone number you already use in the WhatsApp Business app. It must match exactly, or the connection will not work.

Step 5: Note your verification code

Broadcaster shows you a short verification code and a list of steps to follow on your phone. Leave this window open and pick up your phone.

Step 6: Open the message on your phone

In the WhatsApp Business app you will see a message from the official Facebook Business Account. Tap Connect.

Step 7: Connect to the Business Platform

Read the short summary (you can keep using your app, and up to six months of history can be shared), then tap Connect to the Business Platform.

Step 8: Enter the verification code

Type in the code from your computer, or tap to scan the QR code instead.

Step 9: Choose whether to share your chat history

Decide whether to bring your past conversations across. Share chats brings in up to six months of history. Don’t share chats connects your number but leaves the old conversations on your phone only.

This choice cannot be changed later, so decide before you tap.

Step 10: Bring your contacts and chats across

Back on your computer, Broadcaster offers to bring your existing information across. There are two separate choices, and you can take one, both, or neither:

• Import your contacts brings the contacts from your WhatsApp Business app into Broadcaster.
• Import your recent chat history brings in up to six months of past conversations (only if you chose Share chats on your phone in Step 9).

This is a one-time step and must be done now, within 24 hours of connecting. If you skip it, you cannot import later without disconnecting and starting again. Keep the app open on your phone while the import runs. It happens in the background and can take a few minutes.

Finish on your computer

Finish the remaining setup steps. From now on, anything you send from the WhatsApp Business app keeps appearing in Broadcaster automatically, with nothing more for you to do.

What comes across, and what changes

Most of what you do today carries on as normal, but a few things on your phone work differently once you are connected. This is worth knowing up front.

Keeps appearing automatically, from the moment you connect:

• Messages you send from the WhatsApp Business app, and the replies you get, appear in Broadcaster’s Message Hub. This carries on by itself, with nothing to set up.

Brought across once, when you choose it during setup (Step 10):

• Your WhatsApp contacts, if you tap Import your contacts.
• Up to six months of past conversations, if you chose Share chats on your phone and tap Import your recent chat history.

Does not come across:

• Group chats are not brought in and are not mirrored.

Changes on the WhatsApp Business app after you connect:

• Disappearing messages, View once and Live location are turned off for one to one chats.
• Broadcast lists become read only. You will not be able to create new ones in the app, but Broadcaster handles sending to many people properly anyway.
• Other devices linked to your app are unlinked. You can link the supported ones again afterwards. WhatsApp for Windows and WhatsApp for WearOS are not supported.

What it costs

• Messages you send from the WhatsApp Business app on your phone stay free, exactly as before.
• Messages sent through Broadcaster are charged at the standard WhatsApp rates, the same as any other Broadcaster sending.

Replying to customers

Once you are connected, when a customer messages you, you have 24 hours to reply freely from Broadcaster. After 24 hours you reply using one of your approved templates. Replies you send straight from the app on your phone are not limited by this window.

Common gotchas

• Update the app first. If you are below version 2.24.17 you will not see the option to connect.
• The number must match. The number you type on your computer has to be the exact number in your WhatsApp Business app.
• Decide on history before you tap. Sharing your chat history, or not, cannot be changed later.
• Import during setup, not later. Bringing your contacts and chats across is a one-time step and only works within 24 hours of connecting. Skip it and the only way back is to disconnect and start again.
• Keep the app open and your phone online while the import runs, or bringing your past chats across may not finish.
• A customer messages you the second you connect? You might briefly need to reply from the app on your phone. This is normal and settles within seconds.

Disconnecting later

If you ever want to disconnect, you do it from your phone, not from Broadcaster. In the WhatsApp Business app go to Settings, then Account, then Business Platform, and tap Disconnect.

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