How to use WhatsApp Business with multiple users (and where it falls short)

What the free app allows

WhatsApp announced that one account can be used on the main phone and on up to four more devices (official WhatsApp blog). In the WhatsApp Business app, that means other employees can reply to customers from their phone or computer using the company account.

1. On the main phone, open the linked devices menu.
2. On the other device (WhatsApp Web, the desktop app or another phone) a QR code appears.
3. Scan it from the main phone. From then on both see and answer the same chats.

For a business of one or two people with a handful of chats a day, that is usually enough. It is free and there is nothing else to set up.

Where it falls short for a team

• One account for everyone. No user per person and no permissions: anyone sees and answers any chat.
• No chat assignment. Two people can be typing to the same customer at once. Meta presents chat assignment as a benefit of its Meta Verified subscription (Meta announcement).
• History lives on the devices, not on a customer record with their company, deal and next steps.
• No per-person metrics: you cannot see who replied, how long it took or which chats went unanswered.
• Email and calls live elsewhere. What the customer told you by email does not show up next to their WhatsApp messages.
• A cap of five devices in total: the main phone plus four linked ones.

Coexistence: the app and the API on the same number

Meta lets you connect a number that already uses the app to the WhatsApp Business API and keep using both. It calls this coexistence and documents it in its developer documentation. It is how you move to a shared inbox without changing number or losing the app on your phone.

• You need WhatsApp Business app 2.24.17 or later and to sign up through a provider authorised by Meta (Solution Partner or Tech Provider).
• Chats from the last six months can be synced.
• What you send from the app stays free; what is sent through the API is charged at API rates.
• There are limits: a fixed throughput of 20 messages per second, broadcast lists become read-only, disappearing, view-once and live location messages are turned off, and the API does not handle groups or calls.

When a shared inbox pays off

How Futura WhatsApp solves it

We connect your number to the official API, including if you use it in the app today. Each person signs in with their own user, conversations get assigned, and the customer's email and calls show up on the same record. An AI assistant trained on your documents answers out of hours and hands over to a person when it should. The base licence is €79/month + VAT with five users. Book a 30-minute demo and we will look at your case.

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