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If you answer customers yourself from one phone, the WhatsApp Business App is usually enough. If several people need to answer from the same number, or you want broadcasts, chatbots, a CRM or your own software connected to WhatsApp, you need the WhatsApp Business API. And with Meta’s coexistence mode you can run both on one number, so moving to the API no longer means giving up the app.
What is the WhatsApp Business App?
It is WhatsApp’s free app for small businesses, installed on a phone. It gives you a business profile and simple tools such as labels, quick replies, and greeting and away messages. You reply to every customer by hand. The number can also be linked to WhatsApp Web and the desktop app, but it is built for one person, or a few people sharing one account.
There is nothing to connect other software to: no API, no webhooks and no shared team inbox.
What is the WhatsApp Business API?
It is the same WhatsApp for your customers, driven by software instead of by a phone. The version most businesses use today is Meta’s Cloud API, which Meta hosts. It has no app of its own: you use it through a platform such as Fliok, or through software you build yourself. That is what makes a shared team inbox, template broadcasts, chatbots, a CRM and integrations with your own systems possible.
It also comes with rules the app does not have:
- To start a conversation, or to message someone whose 24-hour customer service window has closed, you must use a Meta-approved template.
- Meta charges per delivered template message, by category. Replies inside the 24-hour window are free.
- Meta caps how many different people you can start conversations with in a rolling 24 hours. New accounts start at 250.
How do the two compare?
| WhatsApp Business App | WhatsApp Business API (on Fliok) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers | You, from the phone (and linked WhatsApp Web or desktop) | Your whole team, from a shared inbox on one number, with owner, admin, agent and viewer roles |
| Starting a conversation | Message anyone, any time | An approved template outside the 24-hour window |
| Bulk messages | The app’s own broadcast tools | Template broadcasts to a tagged segment, with delivered and read status per person (Basic and above) |
| Automation | Greeting and away messages, quick replies | Chatbot flows, WhatsApp Flows and when–then automations; an AI sales agent on Pro |
| Leads and follow-ups | Labels | A built-in CRM with stages, owners, tasks and routing |
| Your own systems | Cannot connect | REST API and signed webhooks |
| Cost | Free to download | Meta’s per-message charges for templates, plus the platform’s fee (Fliok has a Free plan) |
When is the Business App enough?
- One person, or a couple of people, answer every chat.
- Most conversations start with the customer messaging you.
- You do not need to message hundreds of people at once, or connect WhatsApp to a website, a CRM or your ads.
When do you need the API?
- More than one person answers. A shared inbox shows who owns each chat, instead of one phone being passed around. See the team inbox.
- You run campaigns. Approved templates to opted-in contacts, sent now or scheduled, with delivery tracked per person. See WhatsApp broadcasts.
- Leads come from ads, forms and portals. Click-to-WhatsApp ad leads arrive with their ad attribution, and form and IndiaMART or JustDial leads land in a CRM with an owner and a follow-up. See WhatsApp CRM and Click-to-WhatsApp ads.
- You want answers outside office hours. Chatbot flows work on every Fliok plan; the AI sales agent is on Pro. See chatbots and AI.
- Your own systems need to send or read messages, such as order updates from your store. See the API docs.
Do you have to give up the Business App to use the API?
Not any more. Meta’s coexistence mode runs one number on the Cloud API and in the WhatsApp Business App at the same time, and Fliok connects existing Business App numbers this way.
What you keep:
- The app on your phone. It keeps working, and you can reply from it whenever you like.
- Your chat history. Meta can share up to six months of existing conversations during onboarding, and Fliok imports them into the shared inbox.
- Your contacts, synced across from the app.
- One thread. Messages you send from the phone appear in the Fliok inbox too.
What changes, under Meta’s rules:
- WhatsApp Web and desktop sessions linked to the number are signed out when you connect.
- You need to open the Business App at least once every 14 days to keep it in sync.
- WhatsApp groups are not available through the API on a coexistence number. Groups carry on as normal on your phone; they just do not appear in the platform inbox.
- Anything sent through the platform follows API rules, including templates outside the 24-hour window.
The full picture is in how coexistence works.
What does the API cost?
Two separate things. Meta’s message charges: per delivered template message, by category and the recipient’s country, billed by Meta to your own WhatsApp Business account. On Fliok we do not resell messages or add a margin. The rupee rates are in what WhatsApp marketing messages cost in India.
The platform’s fee: Fliok has a Free plan (100 contacts, 1 user, up to 1,000 outgoing messages a month, no broadcasts) and paid plans on the pricing page. AI replies on Pro are paid from a separate prepaid wallet.
How do you move to the API?
Follow how to get the WhatsApp Business API in India. If your number is already on the Business App, choose coexistence during signup and keep the app.
Note: Meta sets and changes these rules. If anything here disagrees with Meta’s current documentation, Meta is right.
Try it on your own number
The Free plan connects one WhatsApp number with no card required. Questions first? Contact us.
