Keeping WhatsApp on your phone
One number, two places: the WhatsApp Business app on your phone and OMAI. What Meta has to agree to, what still works on the phone and what stops, what happens to your existing chats, and the settings that decide who the assistant answers.
- Who
- Owners and admins
- Plan
- All plans
- Role
- Owner or Admin
Before you start
- The number already running in the WhatsApp Business app
- The app updated to a recent version
- The phone in hand during the connection
A WhatsApp number can run in two places at the same time: the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, and OMAI. Meta calls this coexistence. You carry on answering from the app whenever you feel like it, the assistant answers on the same number, and both sides see every message.
In the product it is the card Connect the number on your phone — and keep using it as usual, and afterwards the badge Also on your phone on the connection card. The connection procedure itself is in connecting with Embedded Signup; this article is about what living with it is like.
Whether your number can do this
Meta decides, and it decides inside its own window — not from the card you clicked in OMAI. The guided check predicts the path and says so plainly under What to expect, but the answer that counts is the one Meta reports back about the number after the window closes.
- The number must be in the WhatsApp Business app — the green business one. The connect card states the requirement: "Requires the WhatsApp Business app (free, version 2.24.17+)."
- On regular WhatsApp today? Switching to Business happens inside the app, and it keeps your chats. Do that first, then connect.
- You need the phone in hand during the connection: Meta asks you to enter the number and scan a code inside the app.
- The Facebook account you sign in with must be an Admin of the business’s Meta Business account.
- The number must not already be connected to another OMAI account. If it is, the guided check stops with This number needs a quick review.
What keeps working on the phone
- You send and receive from the WhatsApp Business app exactly as before, including starting new chats.
- Every message appears in both places — in the app and in your OMAI inbox.
- A reply you send from the phone shows up in the conversation as an outbound message labelled Owner (from phone), and clears the unread count on that thread.
- Your saved contacts stay on the phone. OMAI reads them only if you agree to share them during the connection.
- Your team can still reply from the OMAI inbox on the same number.
What stops working on this number
- Disappearing messages, view once, live location and broadcast lists stop working on the phone for this number. The connect card lists exactly these four.
- Group chats and calls stay in the Business app only. Meta never sends group messages to OMAI, so they never appear in the inbox.
- Meta caps a number in this mode at about 20 messages per second. OMAI adds no throughput limit of its own.
- These are Meta’s rules for the mode, not OMAI settings. Disconnecting from the phone app is what reverses them.
Your existing chats
During Meta’s window you are offered the chance to share your contacts and your recent chat history, so the inbox is not empty on day one. The product is careful about how it phrases the promise, and so are we: "We can bring in up to about six months of recent chats right after you connect — this is best-effort, not guaranteed." Declining is a perfectly normal choice.
While the import runs, the connection card shows a line about it. Use Refresh status on the card if you want to re-check.
| Status line | What it means |
|---|---|
| Waiting for history-sharing approval from your phone… | OMAI has asked Meta for the data and the approval has not come back yet. |
| Importing your chat history… this can take a few minutes. | Meta is pushing your chats in batches and OMAI is writing them into the inbox. |
| Chat history imported into your inbox. | Meta finished pushing everything it was going to send. |
| You chose not to share history — the inbox will fill from new conversations only. | You declined in Meta’s window. Nothing is wrong; the contacts side may still have arrived. |
| History import didn't complete. Refresh the status — if it persists, contact support. | A push failed. Refresh the status first; the connection itself keeps working either way. |
What the import does and does not bring
- Imported chats arrive as separate conversations, marked Imported and already resolved, so your live inbox is not flooded. A later real message from that customer starts a fresh conversation.
- Messages keep their original dates, so the thread reads in the right order. Pictures, voice notes and documents come across as media entries without the file itself.
- Group chats are never included — Meta does not send them.
- Everyone in the imported chats, and everyone in the address book you shared, is marked as someone you already know. That mark is exactly what the New contacts only setting reads.
- The assistant never replies inside an imported conversation.
- Meta allows 24 hours from connecting for contacts and history to arrive. If they are still unfinished about 20 hours in, the connection switches to Action required with the guidance: "Importing your contacts and chat history didn't finish in time. Disconnect from the phone app (Settings › Account › Business Platform) and connect again from this page."
When you reply from your phone
A message you send from the phone arrives in OMAI as an outbound message from Owner (from phone), marks the conversation as read, and starts a quiet window: the assistant stops replying in that one conversation so it cannot talk over you. Other conversations on the same number are unaffected.
The conversation shows a banner while the window is open — "You replied from your phone — the assistant is standing by and resumes automatically in about 6 hours." The assistant comes back by itself when the time passes; no button is needed. To end the window immediately, open the conversation and choose Resume AI.
Assistant answering settings for this number
Right after connecting, OMAI asks the scope question once: One last choice: who should the AI answer on this number? From then on the same two settings live on the connection card, behind the disclosure Assistant answering settings for this number. They are per number, so a second connected number can behave differently.
- Who the AI answersChoice of twoRequired
- New contacts only — the assistant replies only to people you do not already know: numbers that are not in the contacts you shared and have no chat history with you. Everyone who writes — it replies to everyone on this number, and steps aside for the quiet window whenever you answer from the phone.
Default:
New contacts only·Two options. Changing it takes effect on the next incoming message. - AI resumes afterNumber of quiet hoursRequired
- How long the assistant stays quiet in a conversation after you reply to it from your phone. The countdown restarts every time you reply again.
Default:
6·A whole number between 1 and 24. Anything else is refused when you save. - Save settingsButton
- Stores both settings for this number. The card confirms with "Settings saved."
Turning it off
There are two separate switches, and they do different things. Removing the connection in OMAI stops the assistant and the inbox. Disconnecting on the phone ends the arrangement with Meta. Doing only the first leaves the number linked to Meta’s Business Platform.
Step 1 To stop OMAI: choose Remove on the connection card, then Disconnect in the confirmation.
- The confirmation spells this out: "Note: removing here only stops the assistant and the inbox. The number stays connected to Meta's Business Platform until you also disconnect on your phone: Settings › Account › Business Platform › Disconnect."
You should see: OMAI stops replying and new messages stop reaching your inbox. Your conversations and settings are kept. The number keeps working in the app on your phone.
Step 2 To end the Meta side: open WhatsApp Business on the phone and go to Settings › Account › Business Platform › Disconnect.
You should see: Meta tells OMAI the number was disconnected. If the connection still exists in OMAI it turns to Action required with: "The number was disconnected via the phone app. If that was a mistake, run the connect flow again from this page; otherwise you can remove the connection."
Step 3 To pause rather than disconnect, leave the connection alone and pause the assistant instead.
You should see: Messages keep arriving in the inbox and your team can still reply by hand.
Can I change who the assistant answers later?
Yes, at any time. Open the connection card, expand Assistant answering settings for this number, pick the other option and choose Save settings.
I declined the history sharing. Can I get it later?
Not from this connection. Meta offers the data only in the window right after onboarding and gives 24 hours for it to arrive. To try again you would disconnect on the phone (Settings › Account › Business Platform › Disconnect) and connect the number again.
Do my replies from the phone use up my AI answers?
No. The billed unit is one AI answer. A message you send from the phone is recorded as a human reply, and so are replies your team sends from the inbox.
Why has the assistant not answered anyone yet?
On New contacts only it waits for the contacts and history import to settle, and it stays silent for people you already know. A quiet window from a reply you sent yourself also silences that conversation. Troubleshooting: the assistant is not answering walks through the rest.
Do old imported chats show up as new work?
No. They arrive resolved, with no unread count and no assistant reply, marked Imported so you can tell them apart from live conversations.