# Using a number in the app and Soosh at once > What stays in step when your WhatsApp number is on the WhatsApp Business app and in Soosh, what doesn't, and what to watch for. Source: https://docs.soosh.io/concepts/coexistence/ Your WhatsApp number can stay on the WhatsApp Business app on your phone while your team uses it in Soosh. Customers' messages arrive in both places, and replies you send from the phone show in the Soosh inbox too. Meta calls this coexistence. ## Why it exists Many small businesses start on the WhatsApp Business app. Their customers know the number, and the owner is used to answering from the phone. Moving to a shared inbox used to mean giving up the app on that number. Coexistence lets you add Soosh without changing your number or your habits. You can grow into the team inbox at your own pace. ## How it works in Soosh When you connect with the **WhatsApp Business app** option, Meta links the number on your phone to Soosh. There's no PIN or registration step, because the app has already registered the number. The number's **Connection type** says **WhatsApp Business app**. **Right after you connect**, Soosh asks Meta for two things: - **Your contacts** from the app. After that, a contact you add on the phone is added in Soosh, and one you delete on the phone is deleted in Soosh. - **Your chat history** from the last 180 days. Photos and files from the last 14 days come with it. Older ones show as **[Media]**. Meta only allows this in the first 24 hours after connecting. After that, the number has to be connected again to import. Imported messages keep their original times. They don't set off the bot, notifications or webhooks. If a customer wrote within the last 24 hours, the [24-hour window](https://docs.soosh.io/concepts/the-24-hour-window/) is open in Soosh, as it would be for a new message. **From then on**, each new customer message arrives on your phone and in the Soosh inbox. Replies you send from the phone appear in the chat in Soosh as sent messages, and they don't wake the bot. > **Careful:** Deleting a contact on your phone deletes it in Soosh too, along with what Soosh > remembers about that customer. **If the link breaks**, for example when Meta reports that the number has left Soosh, the number shows **This number is disconnected**. Messages stop arriving in Soosh, but your chats and templates stay. Click **Reconnect** to sign in with Facebook again. This happens when you move the app to a new phone, register the number again, or remove Soosh's access in Meta. If Meta reports the number connected again, it goes back to **Connected** by itself. ## What it means for you **Agree who answers.** Soosh treats a coexistence number like any other. If the bot is on, it replies to customers, even while you're typing on your phone. Agents in Soosh see the same chats. Decide whether the phone, the bot or your team answers first, or a customer may get two replies. **Replies from the phone aren't anyone's.** Soosh can't tell who sent them, so they don't count for any member in [team performance](https://docs.soosh.io/guides/analytics/see-team-performance/). They don't pick up a chat from the queue either. **Treat your phone contacts as shared.** Your address book is now the workspace's contact list. Tidy it on the phone with that in mind. **Choosing between the two ways to connect.** Keep the app if you or a colleague still answer from the phone, or if you want your past chats in Soosh. Connect a new number, one that isn't on WhatsApp yet, if your team will work only from the inbox. It lives in Soosh alone, with no phone to keep in step. ## Related - [Connect a number you use in the WhatsApp Business app](https://docs.soosh.io/guides/workspace/connect-a-number-you-use-in-the-app/) - [Connect a WhatsApp number](https://docs.soosh.io/guides/workspace/connect-a-whatsapp-number/) - [The 24-hour window](https://docs.soosh.io/concepts/the-24-hour-window/) - [How chats are assigned](https://docs.soosh.io/concepts/how-chats-are-assigned/) - [Customer memory](https://docs.soosh.io/concepts/customer-memory/)