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What happens after connecting depends on the type of connection you chose. If you need to review the differences, they are in Connect WhatsApp.

Who answers

A number dedicated to Eva answers with the agent it was assigned to, like any other channel. A number you keep using in the app receives its conversations in Eva. After connecting, you can decide whether Eva answers new chats using the Eva answers for me switch. It starts off.
  • With the switch on, Eva can answer new chats.
  • With the switch off, you answer the chats.
Either way, the chats you already had, including imported history, start with you. If you reconnect the number, it keeps your previous choice.

Change “Eva answers for me”

Every number connected with the app has its own Eva answers for me switch. It can be changed by the person who owns the number, or by anyone with the owner or administrator role in the workspace. The switch can only be turned on while the number is connected. Once it is on, Eva can answer new messages. It does not answer imported history or convert open conversations in bulk; conversations still in your care can return to Eva after the 24-hour period described below. Dedicated numbers do not use this switch.

If customers want to call you

A number handled in Eva is connected for messages, but its WhatsApp calls stay off. Turn them on for each number under AI Agents → Behavior → Calls. Choose whether your team or Eva answers there. If you keep using the number in WhatsApp Business, its calls stay in that phone app. How to turn on WhatsApp calls.

When you answer yourself

If you reply from the phone app, that conversation passes into your hands immediately and Eva stops answering there. The other chats on the number continue as before. If Eva answers for me is on and the number remains connected, Eva can take control back after 24 hours without team activity. The period starts no earlier than when Eva was enabled and the conversation entered your care; your phone replies and Keep handling extend it. Customer messages do not restart the clock. With the switch off or the number disconnected, you keep control. You can also hand it back in the Inbox with Return to the assistant. Manual handback applies forward. On automatic return, Eva can consider the newest new unanswered message, excluding imported history. Eva decides whether to reply.
Conversation bar with the Return to the assistant button.

Above the message box: who is handling the conversation, and how much of the window is left.

Writing from Eva and from the app

  • From the WhatsApp Business app you write whenever you want, with no time window, and Meta does not charge for those messages. Your supported individual chats are mirrored into Eva.
  • From Eva, each number has its own 24-hour reply period with the customer. The sender menu beside the message box names the number that will send and shows that number’s current status.
  • If more than 24 hours have passed for the selected number, keep writing normally in the same box. Eva prepares the reopen template and sends it to Meta for approval before delivery. You never need to pick a template in the Inbox.
  • Choosing a different number asks for confirmation because the customer receives it as a separate chat. Once more than one number has sent, the timeline labels the number used for each message.
Some messages sent from unsupported devices do not appear in Eva. To keep a copy of everything, use the primary phone.

Templates and payment method

Eva registers the text of every WhatsApp message in your automations with Meta when you save them; you never create templates. In Automations, the Messages registered with Meta menu shows each text and its status: Meta reviews every one before it can be used. Templates a number uses outside automations are managed in that agent’s WhatsApp connection. If Meta asks for a payment method, add it to the number’s WhatsApp Business account, for example a bank-issued credit or debit card. Meta charges little, and only for some messages: each number gets 1,000 free replies a month, with no rollover. If someone arrives from a Meta ad on the phone’s WhatsApp app, reply within 24 hours. Meta then charges none of their messages for up to 7 days from your reply. What Meta charges for messages. The connection is not broken: messages keep arriving. Without a payment method, Meta delivers replies within the month’s 1,000 free ones and not after that; templates that are charged do not go out either. See how to add payment or verify the business.

A connected number cannot always send

Connection state and sending capability are two different things, and that difference explains most of the questions. A number can be connected and receiving messages while Meta still reviews the business. The same happens while the display name waits for approval, or while the payment method is missing. In that state Eva shows Active with limitations or Action Needed, and templates and campaigns do not go out until it is resolved. See what Meta needs before it can send again.
Notice that Meta is reviewing the business, and the Active with limitations label beside the connected number.

The number receives messages, but Meta will not let it send yet.

Campaigns by connection type

  • A number you keep using in the WhatsApp Business app: campaigns from Eva are available, within the safety limits Eva applies to that kind of connection.
  • A number that lives only in Eva: available, subject to Meta’s policies, quality, and limits.
In both cases the number has to be ready to send. While Meta has not finished its review, campaigns do not go out.

What stays in the app

On a number you keep using in the app, groups, calls, status, and the catalog stay on the phone. Eva neither reads nor manages them. On a number used only in Eva, those app features do not exist for that number.

Next steps