WhatsApp API migration

This guide explains how to connect to Quoting24 a number that is already active on the official WhatsApp APIs (WhatsApp Business Platform) with another provider, without changing the number.

The WhatsApp section is visible only to administrators.

The connection always starts from the same place in Quoting24: Settings → WhatsApp → WhatsApp Business → Connect. The Connect button opens Meta’s embedded signup. From there, Quoting24 becomes the provider that receives and sends messages for that number. The intended mode is the official API connection described in WhatsApp overview.

Which procedure to follow

Meta has two ways to connect a number that is already used by another provider. Before you click Connect, check the portfolio in Meta Business Suite → Settings → Accounts.

What you see in Meta Business Suite	What to do
WhatsApp Accounts and Messaging Accounts listed separately	Current model: share the WhatsApp account with Quoting24. The number stays where it is.
WhatsApp Accounts only	Previous model: migrate the number with an SMS or voice code.

On the current model, Meta rejects moving the number from one account to another. Disconnecting it from the previous provider does not free it.

What to prepare

Administrator access to Quoting24.
Administrator access to the Meta portfolio (Business Manager) that owns the number, with the Facebook user you will use in the Connect window.
The number already registered on the official APIs. Free test numbers assigned by Meta cannot be migrated.
The ability to receive an SMS or a voice call on that number, if Meta asks for a code.

The previous-model migration also requires:

a display name that is already approved, with no open display-name change request;
two-step verification (PIN) turned off on the number, without deleting the number or closing the account. If you do not have access to the WhatsApp account, ask the current provider to turn it off.

Use this procedure if Meta Business Suite shows both WhatsApp Accounts and Messaging Accounts.

Leave the number active with the current provider until the end. Removing it earlier, while customer messages are still arriving, interrupts reception.

In Quoting24, open Settings → WhatsApp.
On the WhatsApp Business row, click Connect and sign in with the Meta portfolio administrator.
Select the number already registered with the other provider. Meta shows it in the list and does not ask for a new code: the number is already registered.
Meta proposes the portfolio and the WhatsApp account for that number. Confirm sharing with Quoting24.
Enter the number’s display name and continue. Meta may review it again after activation.
Review the requested permissions (WhatsApp account, messaging account, and linked assets) and confirm.
Close the Meta window. In Quoting24, the WhatsApp Business row shows connected.

Meta creates a new messaging account for Quoting24 under the same WhatsApp account. The previous provider stays connected until you remove it.

Make messages arrive in Quoting24

Sharing alone does not move incoming messages. While the previous provider is still a partner, Meta can keep delivering them there.

When the WhatsApp Business row in Quoting24 is connected:

In Meta Business Suite, open Settings → Accounts → Messaging Accounts, select the account, go to Partners, and remove the previous provider’s app access.
Open Settings → Accounts → WhatsApp Accounts, select the number’s account, go to Partners, and remove the same provider’s access there as well.
In the same WhatsApp account, open Conversation routing and assign every conversation type to Quoting24.

The partner list may show the name of the Meta app linked to Quoting24, not the text “Quoting24”. If it is not clear which access to remove, stop and ask Quoting24 support before removing a partner.

When only one partner remains, Meta turns routing off and delivers messages to that partner.

What stays on this model

These stay on the number, because the WhatsApp account does not change:

phone number
display name
quality rating
messaging limits
Official Business Account status, if it was already active

Templates belong to the messaging account, not to the number. The account created for Quoting24 starts empty: templates from the previous provider must be recreated in Quoting24 and approved again by Meta.

Until they are approved:

from Quoting24 you can reply freely only within 24 hours of the customer’s last message;
Broadcast API has no templates to select.

Chats saved in the previous software do not become Quoting24 tickets. Messages that arrive after the connection become tickets. Chats already on the customer’s phone stay in the customer’s WhatsApp app.

Previous model: migrate the number

Use this procedure only if Meta Business Suite shows WhatsApp Accounts only.

Turn off two-step verification

Ask the current provider to turn off the number’s PIN, or do it yourself from the Meta portfolio if you have access.

The number and the account must stay active. Only two-step verification is removed.

Connect the number from Quoting24

In Quoting24, open Settings → WhatsApp.
On the WhatsApp Business row, click Connect and sign in as the Meta portfolio administrator.
Choose create a new WhatsApp account. This is the step Meta uses to move the existing number: it is not a second number.
Enter the same display name already approved for that number.
Enter the same number. Meta warns that it is already registered to a WhatsApp Business account or with another provider.
Request the code by SMS or voice call and enter it.
Complete the remaining steps in the Meta window.

The move usually finishes within a few minutes. In Quoting24, the WhatsApp Business row changes to connected. During the move, reception can stop for a few minutes.

What stays and what must be done again

These stay on the number:

display name
quality rating
Official Business Account status
messaging limits

These must be done again in Quoting24:

templates, which must be submitted again and re-approved by Meta before you write outside the 24-hour window and before you use Broadcast API;
the previous provider’s campaigns;
that software’s chat history, which is not imported. New messages arrive as tickets.

Number already in coexistence with another provider

If the same number is used together by the WhatsApp Business app and the APIs with another provider, the API connection does not by itself reattach the app on the phone.

Back up the chats in the WhatsApp Business app.
Register the same number on the personal WhatsApp app: the number leaves the Business app.
Register it again on the WhatsApp Business app.
In Quoting24, click Connect on WhatsApp Business and complete the coexistence described in WhatsApp Coexistence: on the app, Settings → Linked devices → Link a device, then scan the QR code shown by Quoting24.

To move the number to the APIs only, without the app on the phone, use the procedure for the Meta model you checked above.

After the connection

New messages for the number become tickets in Quoting24.
Outside 24 hours from the customer’s last message, you write with an approved template. The rules of the official channel are in WhatsApp overview.
Campaigns are created in Broadcast API once the templates are available in Quoting24.
To also use the WhatsApp Business app on the same number, you need WhatsApp Coexistence.
The app’s groups and broadcast lists do not move to the APIs.

If the procedure stops

Meta rejects moving the number. The portfolio is on the current model: go back to sharing and leave the number registered with the previous provider until Quoting24 shows connected.
The SMS or voice code does not arrive. On the previous model, two-step verification is still on. Turn it off and click Connect again.
The display name blocks the previous migration. Meta accepts the move only with an approved name and no pending name change.
Quoting24 is connected but messages do not arrive. On the current model, routing still points to the previous provider. Check Partners and Conversation routing before you disconnect the number.
If the partner to remove is not recognizable, contact Quoting24 support with the number and the Meta portfolio ID.