Docs · WhatsApp
Coexistence: keep your number and keep the app
Connecting WhatsApp to a platform used to mean giving up the WhatsApp Business app on your phone. Coexistence removes that trade-off: your team carries on replying from the app exactly as before, on the same number, while Sahay sees the same conversations and can act on them.
What people used to lose
The classic WhatsApp Business API migration was a one-way door. You handed your number over to the API, the WhatsApp Business app stopped working on it, and from that day on every message had to go through the vendor’s web inbox.
For most Indian SMBs that was the deal-breaker. The owner replies on their phone, at night, in transit. Telling them to stop using WhatsApp and start using a dashboard is how these projects die.
Coexistence removes the choice. The app keeps working on the number. Sahay connects alongside it.
What connecting actually involves
Sahay is a Meta Tech Provider, which matters practically: you connect through Meta’s own Embedded Signup window rather than assembling API credentials yourself. You never see or handle a Phone Number ID, a permanent access token, an App Secret, a Verify Token or a WABA ID.
- 1In Sahay, open Integrations → WhatsApp and start the connection.
- 2Meta’s Embedded Signup window opens. You sign in with the Facebook account that owns the business and confirm the number.
- 3The window closes on completion and the number appears in Sahay, labelled Coexistence.
- 4Finish the webhook step shown in the panel so incoming messages reach Sahay.
If you close the Meta window without finishing, nothing is connected and nothing breaks. Sahay shows the connection as cancelled and you can start again whenever you like.
Your existing chats come with you
Once the number is connected, Sahay imports the conversation history from the WhatsApp Business app. The panel shows this happening — status, percentage complete, and running counts of how many messages and how many conversation threads have been imported.
This is the part that decides whether the first week feels useful. Without it you start from an empty inbox and the AI knows nothing about anyone. With it, a customer who messaged you three months ago is already a contact with a history attached.
Import runs in the background and takes longer for larger histories. You can use Sahay while it runs.
Already connected the manual way?
Numbers connected by pasting API credentials keep working, and Sahay labels them by connection method so you can tell them apart. Those numbers show an Upgrade to Coexistence option.
Upgrading is worth doing for the same reason coexistence is worth choosing in the first place: it hands the phone back to your team, and it brings the history across.
Common questions
Can my team still reply from their phones?
Yes. That is the entire point. The WhatsApp Business app keeps working on the number, and replies sent from it appear in Sahay alongside everything else.
Do I need a new number?
No. Coexistence connects the number you already use.
Will customers see any difference?
No. Same number, same chat thread on their side.
What if I disconnect later?
The WhatsApp Business app carries on working. Coexistence adds Sahay alongside the app rather than replacing it.
Is this the same as a WhatsApp chatbot?
No, and the distinction matters when comparing tools. Coexistence is how the number is connected. What happens to the messages afterwards — replies, qualification, follow-ups — is a separate question.
For what Sahay does with the messages once connected, see WhatsApp CRM. For call recording setup on Android, see supported devices. Stuck on a step? Message us.