# How to move from WhatsApp Business app to the official API Canonical: https://www.manycontacts.com/en/blog/migrate-whatsapp-business-to-api/ Published: 2026-08-04 **Moving from the WhatsApp Business app to the official API** means leaving the number in Meta’s cloud and serving it from a team inbox. The customer does not change contact. You stop depending on an Android that dies mid-visit. If you still need the why, read [what WhatsApp Business API is](/en/blog/whatsapp-business-api-what-it-is/) and [Business vs API](/en/whatsapp-business-vs-api/). This is the **how**, in order. ## Before you touch the number Do this cold, not on campaign Friday. 1. **Pick a partner.** ManyContacts or another official one. Meta’s message price is the same; the panel and the hand-holding change. 2. **Facebook Business Manager** verified, or at least created with permissions. Without this, signup stalls. 3. **Display name** (your brand). It should match the website and invoices. 4. **Who is admin** of the number on day D (one person, not “the intern and the partner”). 5. **v1 template list**: welcome, appointment, follow-up. Guide: [templates](/en/blog/whatsapp-business-templates/). 6. **Inbox users**: names, roles, who sees everything. [Shared inbox](/en/blog/shared-whatsapp-inbox/). 7. **Tell the team**: that day nobody replies from the app. If you use several numbers, migrate **one** (the public one) and leave the rest for a second wave. ## Migration day (checklist) 1. Export or ask the partner for **contact / history import**. Do not assume “it is already in the cloud”. 2. Open the panel, users created, permissions tested with an internal number. 3. **Choose the cut.** Coexistence: the number stays on the app and joins the API ([guide](/en/blog/whatsapp-coexistence-explained-2026/)). API-only: **unlink** the app (Settings → stop using / change number). Do not leave a half session. 4. **Verify** the number (SMS or voice) in the partner / Meta flow. 5. Connect the channel in ManyContacts and send a **test message** to a trusted phone. 6. Submit **templates** for review. Do not wait for the first campaign to discover a rejection. 7. Turn off notifications on the old app. A ghost session left behind creates chaos. Service window: first thing in the morning or at midday, not at 20:00 with 80 open chats. ## What the customer notices Nothing, if the name and number do not change. Your first message from the API may feel a bit more “company” (a template). Say it in the bio or a status: “We are still on this number, now with more than one person to help you.” Do not change the number “to try”. You lose reviews, ads and the customer’s memory. ## History: honest expectations Meta does not hand you a neat ZIP of the whole app into Cloud API. What you can do: - Import **contacts**. - In many cases, **upload history** with the partner’s help (backups, migration tools). - From the cut onward, new history is **the company’s**, unlimited in ManyContacts. Get in writing what gets migrated. “We’ll see later” is how three years of quotes disappear. ## The team on day 1 and day 7 Day 1: two agents in the panel, 5-minute SLA, AI off or only after hours. Day 7: you can turn on [AI qualification](/en/blog/whatsapp-ai-agents/), the first small campaign and the kanban. Do not migrate and blast 10,000 marketing messages the same Thursday. The number is sensitive and the team is still clicking wrong. ## Mistakes that stretch migration to three weeks - Business Manager in the name of someone who is on holiday. - A number still on a partner’s **personal** WhatsApp. - Odd prefix or format (+34 vs 0034) at verification. - Wanting **two apps** “just in case”. - WhatsApp **PIN** / verification methods not up to date. - Templates with offer copy tagged as utility: rejection in a chain. ## After: signs the migration worked - Nobody asks “which phone is WhatsApp on?”. - A salesperson on leave does not turn the channel off. - You can see response times. - You can reopen a 48-hour-old chat with a [template](/en/blog/whatsapp-24-hour-window/). - The CRM or DMS receives activity ([HubSpot](/en/whatsapp-hubspot/), [Walcu](/en/whatsapp-walcu/), etc.). If a week later you are still answering “in parallel” on the app, you did not migrate: you duplicated. ## Internal note (copy and paste) “On [day] at [time] company WhatsApp moves to the panel. That day nobody replies from the app. New chats show up in ManyContacts. If a customer writes to your personal number, send them the official one and close. We are importing old history; if you cannot see a chat, do not assume it is gone: tell us.” Without this message, 30% of the team “just tries” the app for a moment and breaks verification. ## Ads and the Google listing On day D the number does not change: you do not need to edit listings if the digits stay the same. Do review that there is no second phone from a salesperson in the Instagram ad or in the website footer. Every parallel number is a back door into a silo. If you use click-to-WhatsApp in Meta Ads, point it at the number already on the API. An ad that still hits the old phone leaves leads on a device you were about to switch off. ## Next step You do not need a consultancy project. You need one day with a clear owner. [Create the account](https://app.manycontacts.com/register) or [book a demo](https://calendar.app.google/PH1wtumtQQwLGz756) and we cut the number over with you.