Can you keep your WhatsApp Business app?
By JP, who runs Ralphio. Updated 7 October 2026.
Yes. Your number, your app and your chats stay as they are. You connect it once, on the setup call, by scanning a code with your phone. From then on your WhatsApp messages show in your app and in Ralphio at the same time, and you can reply from either.
What do I need first?
Your business number on the WhatsApp Business app, not ordinary WhatsApp. The app kept up to date (version 2.24.17 or later). The Facebook login that runs your business page. And your phone in your hand when we do it, because the last step is a scan.
How does connecting it work?
On the call I open the WhatsApp connection in Ralphio and you log in with your Facebook account. A code appears on screen. You scan it from the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, and it’s connected. The whole thing takes a few minutes.
What comes across?
You choose. You can bring your contacts and up to the last six months of one-to-one chats, so the history with a customer is there when they message again. You can also leave it all behind and start fresh. Group chats stay in your app.
What changes in the app?
Very little. Broadcast lists stop working, and in one-to-one chats you can no longer send disappearing messages, view-once photos or live locations. Everything else works as it does now. Your customers see the same name and number as before.
Do I have to do anything to keep it working?
Open the WhatsApp Business app at least once every two weeks. If it goes unopened for longer, the connection can drop, and you’d have to scan the code again.
What if I use ordinary WhatsApp for work?
You switch that number to the WhatsApp Business app first, on the same phone. WhatsApp moves your chats across as part of the switch. Then we connect it the same way.
Does my business need approving by Meta?
Not to start. Without Meta’s business check you can start conversations with up to 250 new people a day, which is far more than a trade business needs. The check only matters if you ever outgrow that.
What if I’m already on another WhatsApp service?
If your number is already connected to another platform, it can be moved across instead. Any ready-made message templates need approving again, which usually takes a day or two. I sort that part out.
What if I stop using Ralphio?
The connection is removed and your WhatsApp Business app carries on exactly as it did before. Your number and your chats were never anywhere but with you.