How to Connect the WhatsApp Business App to a CRM (Step by Step) and Keep Your Number

What changed: the app and the platform on one number

Meta calls it onboarding WhatsApp Business app users; providers often call it coexistence. Your number stays registered on the WhatsApp Business app, so you keep chatting from your phone as before. The same number is also connected to Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform, which is what lets a CRM receive your messages and send replies.

Messages stay in step in both directions. A reply you type on the phone appears in the CRM, and a reply sent from the CRM appears in the app. Nothing is moved to a new SIM, and your customers see the same number and business profile.

What you need before you start

Check these first. Most failed connections come from the first two.

• The WhatsApp Business app, not regular WhatsApp, on the phone that holds the number, updated to version 2.24.17 or newer.
• That phone in your hand during the sign-in, because WhatsApp asks you to confirm on it.
• A computer for Meta's sign-in window, which is easier there than on a phone.
• A Facebook login, used to create or choose the Meta business portfolio the number is connected under.
• A browser that lets Meta's sign-in load. Ad blockers and strict tracking protection often block facebook.net, which stops the window from opening.
• A CRM that supports WhatsApp Business app numbers. A tool built only for the API will ask you to move the number off the app instead.

Practical tipIf your business number is on regular WhatsApp today, move it to the free WhatsApp Business app on the same phone first. Your chats come with it.

How long it takes

The sign-in itself is short. How long you spend in it depends mostly on whether you already use Meta's business tools.

Once you click Finish, your contacts and chat history are imported in the background. A phone with a few chats is done in minutes; one with years of chats can take a few hours. You do not have to wait on the page, but the WhatsApp Business app should stay open and online until the import completes.

• Already logged in to Facebook, with a business portfolio: about 2 to 5 minutes.
• New to Meta's business tools, so you create a portfolio on the way: about 5 to 10 minutes.
• Something gets in the way, such as an ad blocker, the wrong Facebook account or an old app version: up to 15 to 30 minutes, most of it spent fixing that one thing. See the troubleshooting section below.

Step by step in WTS CRM

Connecting is done once per workspace, by an owner or admin. Everything from step 2 to step 6 happens in Meta's window, not in the CRM.

• Open Settings → WhatsApp and click Connect WhatsApp. Meta's sign-in opens in a new window.
• Log in with Facebook, or click “Continue as …” if you are already logged in. Use the Facebook account that manages your business.
• Allow WTS CRM to access your WhatsApp business account when Meta asks.
• Choose your business portfolio, or create one with your business name, email and country.
• Choose to connect your existing WhatsApp Business app account, and enter the number exactly as it is on the phone.
• Confirm on the phone. Follow the instructions in Meta's window, which show you what to open in the WhatsApp Business app. The app then asks whether to share your chat history; say yes if you want past chats on your leads.
• Click Finish. The window closes, and the WhatsApp card in WTS CRM shows the number as connected and the import starting. Keep the app open on the phone until it finishes.

Practical tipMeta changes the wording of its sign-in screens from time to time, and some screens are skipped for accounts that already have a portfolio. If a screen looks different, look for the choice that keeps your existing WhatsApp Business app number.

What happens after you click Finish

You do not need to do anything else for the connection to work. In the background, the CRM:

• Saves the connection and starts receiving every new one-to-one message on the number.
• Asks WhatsApp for your contacts and your chat history. WhatsApp allows each of these once, within 24 hours of connecting, so the CRM requests both straight away.
• Shows progress on the WhatsApp card: messages saved, contacts synced and how far the chat history import has got.
• Turns the next new person who messages you into a lead, with WhatsApp as the source.

If the connection does not work

Most problems are fixed in a minute once you know the cause. These are the ones people hit most often.

• “Could not load Meta's sign-in”: an ad blocker, a privacy extension, strict tracking protection or a DNS filter is blocking facebook.net. Allow it for the CRM, or try a private window or another browser, and click Connect again.
• Nothing opens when you click Connect: the browser blocked the pop-up. Allow pop-ups for the CRM and try again.
• Your number is not accepted: it is on regular WhatsApp, or the WhatsApp Business app is older than version 2.24.17. Update the app, or move the number to the WhatsApp Business app first.
• You do not see your business: you logged in to Facebook with a different account from the one that manages the business. Log out of Facebook in that browser and connect again.
• “WhatsApp sign-in was closed before it finished”: the window was closed early. Click Connect again and finish every step.
• The card later says WhatsApp was disconnected: the main phone was offline for too long (WhatsApp disconnects it after about 14 days of inactivity), or the number was disconnected from the app. Click Reconnect WhatsApp.

What changes on your phone

You keep using the app, but connecting to the platform switches a few things, and it is better to know before a customer asks.

• Linked devices such as WhatsApp Web and desktop are signed out once. Sign in to them again afterwards.
• Group chats stay in the app and are not shared with the CRM.
• Broadcast lists become read-only.
• Disappearing messages are turned off for the number.
• One-to-one chats, your business profile and the rest of the app work as before.

What the CRM receives, and what it does not

From the moment you connect, every new one-to-one message is shared: the ones customers send, the ones you type on the phone and the ones sent from the CRM. In WTS CRM a message from a number that is not yet in the CRM creates a new lead, and a message from a known number goes on that lead's timeline. Photos, voice notes and documents are shown on the timeline too.

If you agree to share chat history, WhatsApp also sends your recent past conversations, up to about six months. WTS CRM adds them to leads and clients who are already in the CRM; old chats with people who are not do not become leads. Your WhatsApp contacts are shared as well, and you choose which of them to import.

Reply with text, photos, documents, audio or video inside WhatsApp's 24-hour window after the customer's last message. To start a chat or reopen one after the window closes, choose an approved template and confirm the customer has agreed to receive your messages. Templates can include an image, video or document header. For the full feature, see the WhatsApp CRM page.

Three things to do the same day

Connecting is the start. These three steps decide whether the CRM fills up with useful leads or with every number in your phone.

• Import only the contacts who are customers or open enquiries, not family, suppliers and old groups. WTS CRM lets you tick them, up to 500 at a time.
• Give every new WhatsApp lead an owner. They arrive with the workspace owner, who passes them to whoever will reply.
• Add an automation such as “A lead messages you on WhatsApp → close open follow-ups”, so nobody chases a lead who has already written back.