Connecting WhatsApp

The WhatsApp page under Channels manages the WhatsApp Business lines connected to your workspace. Connect WhatsApp Business opens a chooser with the two ways to connect side by side, each with what you get and its limitations:

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Option 1: WhatsApp Business API (dedicated line)

Choose WhatsApp Business API in the chooser to link a number through Meta’s secure embedded signup. In this setup the number lives in the platform: your team answers from the shared Inbox and the agent can use message templates to reach out after the 24-hour window. Connecting a number this way moves it fully onto the API. If that number is currently active in the WhatsApp Business app on a phone, it will stop working there, so make sure your team is ready to work from Ciarem’s Inbox. If you want to keep the app, use Coexistence instead.

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Option 2: WhatsApp Business App (Coexistence)

If you run your business from the WhatsApp Business app and do not want to give that up, choose WhatsApp Business App (Coexistence) in the chooser. Your number connects to Ciarem while the app keeps working as before: you and your team keep chatting from your phones, and the AI agent reads and answers on the same number. Nothing is hidden from your phone. Incoming customer messages and the replies the AI sends both keep appearing in your WhatsApp Business app, so you always see the full conversation there, as if you had written it yourself. You will need:

1. Your number active on the WhatsApp Business app (not personal WhatsApp).
2. Access to a Meta Business Account (the flow guides you if you do not have one).
3. A recent version of the WhatsApp Business app on your phone.

See WhatsApp Coexistence explained for what syncs and what does not.

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Which one should I choose?

Stay with Coexistence if your phone is still the center of your operation and you want the AI working alongside you. Choose the dedicated line when the platform becomes the center: more teammates answering from the Inbox, higher volume, and outbound follow-up with templates. The chooser lists the trade-offs. The API line sends up to 80 messages per second, needs no phone, and supports voice and video calling through Ciarem, but the number leaves the WhatsApp Business app and its earlier chat history does not carry over. Coexistence keeps the app and imports up to 6 months of chats and contacts, but sending is capped at 20 messages per second, the phone must stay online (about 14 days offline breaks the connection), linked devices such as WhatsApp Web are signed out, groups, catalog, and broadcast lists stay in the app, and the number cannot be de-registered from the API afterward.

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What you can send and receive

Everything a customer sends on WhatsApp lands in the Inbox as-is: text, photos, videos, voice notes (with a one-click Transcribe action), documents, stickers, locations, shared contact cards, emoji reactions, and replies that quote an earlier message. A message the customer deleted shows “This message was deleted”. In the rare case Meta delivers something Ciarem does not recognize, the thread shows an “Unsupported message” notice instead of dropping it silently. Your team and the AI can send text (with WhatsApp’s bold, italic, and strikethrough formatting), emoji, photos, videos, and documents with captions, voice notes recorded in the composer, emoji reactions, and quoted replies. Unique to WhatsApp, you can also send message templates and interactive button and list messages. Files are capped at 16 MB, and audio is converted automatically to a format WhatsApp accepts. The types you cannot send from Ciarem: stickers, locations, and contact cards. After 24 hours without a reply from the customer, the composer locks and offers a template instead. See WhatsApp costs and the 24-hour window. A dedicated line can also take voice calls: customers call your number on WhatsApp, your team answers from the Inbox, and the call lands in the thread with its recording and summary. See WhatsApp voice calls.