How to switch WhatsApp Business API provider without losing your number, green tick, quality rating or templates
What belongs to you and what to the provider, how to check where your WhatsApp Business Account lives, the two-step PIN, templates on the same or a new account, and the mistakes that turn a ten-minute switch into a week.
You can switch WhatsApp Business API provider without changing your number, losing your green tick or resetting your quality rating, because all three belong to the number and your Meta business, not to the provider. The new provider's Embedded Signup moves the number in minutes. Templates come with it if the number stays on the same WhatsApp Business Account; on a new one they are resubmitted. What stays behind is the old provider's copy of your conversations.
On this page
What belongs to you, and what to the provider
| Thing | Whose it is | On a switch |
|---|---|---|
| The phone number | Yours | Moves |
| The display name and green tick | Yours, tied to the number | Move |
| Quality rating and messaging limit | The number's | Move |
| The WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) | Your Business portfolio's — if it was created there | Stays, and is shared with the new provider |
| Approved templates | The WABA's | Stay with the WABA; resubmitted if the number moves to a new one |
| Conversation history | The old provider's copy | Stays behind; export it |
| Contacts, tags, flows | In the old tool | Export and import |
First, find out where your WABA lives
Open Meta Business Suite › Settings › Accounts › WhatsApp accounts. If your WABA is listed under your own Business portfolio, you own it and can connect it to any provider. If it is not there, the old provider created it inside their own portfolio, and you will need them to release the number or migrate it to a WABA in yours. Ask early; it is the only step that depends on somebody else.
The switch, step by step
- Get the two-step verification PIN. The number has a six-digit PIN set when it was registered. If you do not have it, the old provider does, or you can reset it in WhatsApp Manager.
- Start Embedded Signup with the new provider. Log in with the Facebook account that manages your Business portfolio and choose the existing WhatsApp Business Account and number.
- Enter the PIN when asked, if the number needs registering on the new connection. A number that is already registered on the Platform is recognised and not asked to register again.
- Sync your templates. On the same WABA, the approved templates are already there to read in. On a new WABA, resubmit them; utility templates are often approved within minutes.
- Send a test from your own phone and reply from the new inbox.
- Then disconnect the old provider, so two systems are not answering the same customer.
How long is the number offline?
Minutes. Do it at a quiet hour, and send yourself a test the moment it is connected.
The mistakes that cost a week
- The WABA in the provider's portfolio. Find out on day one, not after you have cancelled.
- A guessed PIN. Meta's "pin is incorrect" error does not say which PIN it wants. Enter the existing one; do not invent a new one.
- Cancelling first. Some providers delete the export when the account closes. Export, switch, test, then cancel.
- Two tools live at once. If both the old and new provider still receive the webhooks, a customer gets two replies. Disconnect the old one after the test.
- Forgetting the opt-out list. People who opted out on the old tool must not be imported as if they had not.
Moving from the WhatsApp Business app instead
A number on the free phone app is a different move: the number leaves the app and joins the Platform, its chats stay on the phone, and the green tick, if it had one, comes along. The how-to guide covers that path, and app versus API whether it is time.
Can my old provider refuse to let me switch?
Not if the number and its WABA are in your own Business portfolio. If the provider created the WABA in theirs, you need them to release the number, which is why it is worth checking first.
Will I lose my green tick if I change provider?
No. The official business account badge belongs to the number and your business, and moves with the number.
Do I have to get my templates approved again?
Only if the number moves to a new WhatsApp Business Account. If you keep the same one, the approved templates are read in from Meta.
Does my messaging limit reset?
No. The tier and quality rating are the number's and come with it.
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