WhatsApp and artificial intelligence
WhatsApp Business app
The WhatsApp Business app is Meta's application for a business to handle WhatsApp from a phone with a business profile: greeting and away messages, quick replies, labels and a catalogue. It was launched in January 2018 for small businesses and needs no programming to use.
Also known asWhatsApp Business · WhatsApp Business App · WhatsApp app for businesses
What it is exactly
It is WhatsApp with a business profile: it is installed on a phone, registered with the residence's number and can be opened on up to four additional linked devices. It comes with tools for whoever is answering, but a person does the answering: there is no routing by area and no software behind it. What is sent from the app is not subject to the 24-hour window and does not go through templates, and Meta does not charge for those messages. For software to handle the number, Meta's other route is needed: the WhatsApp Business Platform.
The two are not entirely exclusive. With coexistence, an app number is connected to the Cloud API through a Solution Partner or a Tech Provider and the app is still used for one-to-one chats, at the cost of losing broadcast lists and some features. When the app is enough and when it is not, point by point: WhatsApp Business or the API.
Worth knowing
What people take for granted: that an app number can carry the blue tick of an official account. Meta does not grant it to WhatsApp Business app numbers; it keeps it for platform numbers with a verified business account and the other requirements. And opening the app on several devices does not split the work: everyone reads the same inbox, and if two people reply, the resident gets two answers.
Sources
Related terms
- WhatsApp Business PlatformThe WhatsApp Business Platform is Meta's platform for organisations to handle WhatsApp at scale from their own software, through the Cloud API, instead of by hand from the WhatsApp Business app on a phone. It comes with its own system of approved templates and sending rules.
- Coexistence (app and API)Coexistence is Meta's option for connecting a number already used on the WhatsApp Business app to the Cloud API without changing it: software handles the volume while one-to-one messages are still written from the app, with chats mirrored on both sides. It is only enabled through a Solution Partner or a Tech Provider.