Since 1 October 2026, replies sent through the WhatsApp Business Platform cost money once you pass 1,000 a month on a number. The obvious next question: does that apply to the WhatsApp Business app on your phone?
No. And if your number runs on both, that matters more than it did a month ago.
The short version
Meta lets a number that’s already on the WhatsApp Business app connect to the API without leaving the app. It calls this coexistence: the same chats appear on your phone and in a team inbox, and you can reply from either.
On pricing, Meta’s coexistence documentation is short and clear:
- Messages sent from the WhatsApp Business app remain free.
- Messages sent through the API are billed at API pricing — templates by category, and now replies beyond the free allowance.
So on one number you can have two kinds of reply: free ones from your phone, and ones from your team inbox or chatbot that count towards Meta’s bill.
How to split the work
On the phone: the conversations you’d have answered yourself anyway. Regular customers, quick “is it in stock?” questions, the personal touch. Free, as they’ve always been.
Through the API: the things the phone can’t do well.
- A team answering the same number, each with their own login, chats assigned
- Campaigns to every opted-in customer, with delivery and read reports
- Chatbots for the questions you’re tired of answering
- Instagram DMs in the same inbox
The replies your team and your bot send are the ones that count towards the 1,000 free a month. For many small businesses, that’s enough to stay at zero.
What changes on the phone when you connect
Coexistence isn’t free of trade-offs. Per Meta’s documentation:
- Broadcast lists in the app become read-only; you send campaigns from the API instead.
- Disappearing messages, view once and live location are switched off in one-to-one chats.
- Group chats stay on the phone only.
- Linked devices are logged out once; you link them again afterwards.
- Your phone has to keep using the app — Meta disconnects a number whose app has been inactive for about 14 days.
- A shared number sends up to 20 messages a second, which only matters for very large campaigns.
You can also bring the last six months of chats across when you connect, so your team starts with the history.
Who should do this
Yes, if you already run your business on the WhatsApp Business app and you’ve outgrown one phone — more than one person replying, customers you want to message in bulk, or questions a chatbot could take.
Probably not yet, if you’re the only one answering and you never send broadcasts. The app on its own is still the simplest thing that works.
Before you connect your number
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Verify all of this
- That app messages stay free, API messages are billed, and how windows work: Meta’s guide to onboarding WhatsApp Business app users.
- The reply pricing that took effect on 1 October: Meta’s pricing page.
We’ve put the full walk-through — what stays the same, what changes, and how to connect — on one page.