> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.goeva.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Keep using your WhatsApp Business app
> Connect the number you already use in the WhatsApp Business app to Eva, keep answering from the phone, and keep your groups and calls.
This option connects the number you already use in the WhatsApp Business app to Eva. The number stays on the phone, and your individual chats also appear in Eva.
Still deciding? See the four answers in [Connect WhatsApp](/en/channels/whatsapp).
## What you will get
The individual chats of that number reach the Eva Inbox, and your team sees them there. You keep answering from the app whenever you want. Eva does not answer on its own until you turn that on later, number by number.
When you reply in the Inbox, the sender menu beside the message box shows the
exact number Eva will use and that number's reply status with the customer. A
different number is always confirmed first because it reaches the customer as a
separate chat. If its 24-hour reply period has ended, keep typing normally: Eva
handles Meta's reopen approval without asking you to choose a template.
## Requirements
* A number that already uses the WhatsApp Business app, not the regular WhatsApp app.
* A number that was not registered before on the WhatsApp Business API with another provider.
* The phone at hand, with the app open and with internet.
* Permission to manage that business in Meta.
## 1. Enter the number and accept the points
In **AI Agents** → **Channels** → WhatsApp, answer **It is in the WhatsApp Business app on my phone** and select **Connect WhatsApp Business**.
**Connect your WhatsApp Business** opens, the first of two screens.
When you leave the field, Eva checks the number and answers right there. If it cannot be connected, **This number cannot be connected right now** appears with the reason.
Eva asks only what it cannot take for granted: whether the number uses the WhatsApp Business app, and whether it was connected to the WhatsApp Business API with another provider before. Anything the previous step already settled appears as a confirmed fact, not a question. Answer carefully: if the number was on the API, Meta blocks it for 1 to 2 months and the connection fails.
They are grouped under **What changes**, **What you need to do** and **What can happen**, one line each. At the end, check **I read and accept these points**.
The nine points, in short:
**What changes**
* This is a work number: who can read its conversations depends on your workspace visibility, and Eva says so on screen.
* Groups stay on the phone only, and Eva cannot read them.
* Your linked devices are signed out. Most can be linked again, except WhatsApp for Windows and WearOS.
* Broadcast lists, disappearing messages, view once and live location turn off in individual chats. The broadcast lists you already have become read-only.
**What you need to do**
* Open the WhatsApp Business app on the phone at least every 13 days.
* During the import: keep the app open, confirm on the phone and stay online.
**What can happen**
* Meta may apply temporary limits or blocks to the number.
* The number's quality can drop and, in extreme cases, Meta may disconnect or suspend it.
* Those decisions are Meta's. Eva does not control them and cannot reverse them.
This check is resolved with your answers and with what Eva already knows from the flow: at this step Eva does not ask Meta anything. Real eligibility is decided by Meta, at the moment you connect.
To send promotions from that number, the replacement for broadcast lists is a send to a list from Eva. See [Broadcast lists and campaigns](/en/automations/broadcast-lists).
## 2. Connect with Meta and with your phone
**Continue with Meta** turns on as soon as Eva saves your acceptance.
### Confirm the name your customers will see
Before Meta opens, Eva asks for the name your customers will see on WhatsApp.
It defaults to the name that number already shows; if Eva does not know it, it
uses your workspace name. You can change it or keep the current name. After
connecting, the summary shows whether Meta is reviewing, accepted, or rejected
the name. A rejected name never affects the number's connection.
A Meta window opens, not an Eva one. Sign in with the account that manages your business.
Meta asks you to confirm the business and the number you are connecting. Do not add it as a new number.
Meta sends a notice to the app. Open it and follow the on-screen instruction to prove you control the number.
The screens in that window belong to Meta and change without notice, which is why they are not shown here. When you finish, the window closes on its own and Eva moves to the second screen.
## 3. Review the Connected screen
The second screen is called **Connected** and carries two things.
* **Your history.** On the phone, tap Confirm to import your history. The import brings up to 6 months of individual chats, no groups, and happens once during the connection. Full detail in [How to import your contacts and history](/en/channels/whatsapp/import-contacts-and-history).
* **Where the leads land.** Eva shows that agent's default pipeline, already saved. If you administer the account, **Change** takes you to Routing to pick another one; if not, you pick it right there before closing.
When you finish, select **Done**.
Connecting the number does not make Eva answer. Every number arrives with **Eva answers for me** off until somebody turns it on. See [After connecting WhatsApp](/en/channels/whatsapp/after-connecting).
## If an administrator connects it from Members
In **Settings** → **Members**, an administrator connects someone else's number. That wizard has six steps, with one checkbox per point, and saves exactly the same confirmation.
Select that person's number in the **WhatsApp** column and then **Connect WhatsApp**. The first step is called **Before you connect**.
Enter the number and check both boxes. **Next** turns on once the number is entered.
Three checkbox screens follow, one per group. Each box is checked separately, and **Next** turns on once all of them are checked.
## How the Members wizard ends
Step 5 is called **Ready to connect** and sums up the nine confirmed points. The same Meta window from step 2 above opens from there.
Then **Import your history** appears, with the phone instructions and the import progress. When it finishes, select **Continue**.
At the end, **Number connected** appears. Select **Finish** to close the wizard.
## How to know it worked
In **Settings** → **Members**, the **Team numbers** panel lists the number. It reads **Connected** once the connection exists, and **Active** as soon as Eva sees activity from that number.
Ask somebody to write to you from another phone and confirm the conversation appears in the [Inbox](/en/crm/inbox).
## If something goes wrong
* The Meta window can stay open for up to 30 minutes. If it does not appear, use **Can't see Meta's window?**: allow pop-ups, close earlier Meta windows, and select **Open Meta's window again** to retry deliberately. Read every point and check the single checkbox, **I have read and accept these points. This number has not been on the WhatsApp API with another provider before.** If it was on the API, use **My number was on the API with another provider** before continuing.
* Before **Done, clean retry**, close every earlier Meta window yourself. Then update WhatsApp Business, open the app and approve Meta's notification, and confirm the number is not active with another WhatsApp API provider.
* If two guided retries fail, choose **Ask for help**. Eva sends the attempt history and the Meta session data it already captured; our team contacts you today.
* **This number cannot be connected right now** appears: review your answers. A number already registered in another API account is blocked by Meta for 1 to 2 months. For that case the route is [Connect a number already on the API](/en/channels/whatsapp/use-number-only-in-eva).
* Meta rejects the connection at the end: eligibility is decided by Meta when you connect. Keep using the app and try later, or connect another number.
* Meta does not show the option to connect your existing app: see [what to do when Meta will not connect your WhatsApp Business app](/en/channels/whatsapp/meta-wont-connect-whatsapp-business-app).
## Next steps
* [What changes once the number is connected](/en/channels/whatsapp/after-connecting)
* [How to connect several numbers in one agent](/en/channels/whatsapp/multiple-numbers-in-one-agent)
* [How to keep and recover your connection](/en/channels/whatsapp/maintain-and-recover)