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Coexistence changes a handful of WhatsApp Business App features and adds two Meta limits that affect how you send. Read this before you plan your first broadcast.

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What Changes on the WhatsApp Business App

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What You Can Do in Gallabox

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What Syncs From Your WhatsApp Business App

If you approved history sharing during setup, Gallabox imports: After setup, contacts you add, edit, or remove on your phone keep syncing to Gallabox automatically. If you declined history sharing, no past chats are imported and your Gallabox inbox starts from your next incoming message. Nothing is deleted from your phone either way — the WhatsApp Business App keeps its full history. Before connecting, it is worth backing up your chats so you keep a copy of whatever the import does not bring across.

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Sending Limits and the 24-Hour Window

Two Meta rules apply to Coexistence numbers specifically. Both surprise people.

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Your number is capped at 20 messages per second

To stay compatible with the WhatsApp Business App, Coexistence numbers have a fixed throughput of 20 messages per second. This cap is set by Meta and cannot be raised while the number is on Coexistence. Large broadcasts still send — they just take longer. A broadcast to 50,000 contacts takes roughly 45 minutes to leave the queue at this rate. If you need faster throughput, you need a Cloud API number rather than a Coexistence number.

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Messages sent from the app do not open a 24-hour window

Gallabox can only send a free-form (non-template) message inside the 24-hour customer service window, which opens when a customer messages you. For Coexistence numbers:
  • Replies you send from the WhatsApp Business App do not open, extend, or affect the 24-hour window, and are not charged
  • Only messages a customer sends after your number is onboarded open a window
If a customer messaged you shortly before onboarding finished, no 24-hour window exists for that conversation. Your first reply from Gallabox must be a template message until that customer messages you again.

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Bots and AI Agents When You Reply From the App

A message you send from the WhatsApp Business app doesn’t stop a bot or AI agent by default. The bot keeps handling the conversation and replies to the customer’s next message. Your message usually cancels the bot’s wait time, though. The bot doesn’t send its timeout message or run its timeout actions, and the conversation stays with the bot. If the bot’s wait time is under 15 minutes, the bot can still run them later. See When the timeout doesn’t run. Messages you send from the app never start a bot or AI agent. To hand the conversation to a person when you reply from the app:
  1. Go to Channels, open your WhatsApp number, and find Business App Message Settings (“Manage assignment for messages from WhatsApp Business App”). It only appears on Coexistence numbers.
  2. In Business App Managed By:, choose the user or team.
With this set, a message sent from the app moves the conversation to that user or team, even if a bot or another team member had it. The bot stops replying. Messages sent from the app also count as a team member’s reply for Auto resolve chat.

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Linked Devices

You can link up to four companion devices (WhatsApp Web, WhatsApp on a tablet, and so on) to your WhatsApp Business App. When you onboard to Coexistence, all companion devices are unlinked automatically. This is a Meta security requirement. You can re-link supported devices once setup is complete — if a device won’t re-link straight away, wait up to 24 hours and try again.
WhatsApp for Windows and WhatsApp for WearOS are not supported on Coexistence numbers. Messages sent or received on those apps never reach Gallabox, and your team will not see them in the shared inbox. Messages your team sends from Gallabox appear on those devices as placeholder text telling the reader to open their primary device. Use WhatsApp Web instead of the Windows desktop app.