Moving an existing number onto the Cloud API, without losing a day

Moving a number to the Cloud API is quick. What is not quick is everything before it, and the thing to understand first is that the number stops working in the WhatsApp app the moment it moves, permanently, along with its history.

What you lose

• The app. No more answering on a phone. Everything now goes through software.
• The history. Conversations do not come with you.
• Groups. The Business Platform does not do group messaging.
• Status and calls. Not features of the API.
• Free-form sending outside 24 hours. Now templates only.

The order that works

1. Set up Business Manager and verify the business first. Weeks, potentially. Nothing else can start until it is done.
2. Get the display name approved against the number you intend to use.
3. Export the conversations you need. The app's own chat export, per conversation, is the only route and it is manual. Do it before, not during.
4. Have the inbox ready. The API has no interface. If your team has nowhere to answer on the day of the move, the move is an outage.
5. Disable two-step verification on the number before migrating, and be ready to set a new PIN after.
6. Move during your quietest hours, and expect the number to be unreachable briefly.
7. Send a test to a real handset before telling anybody it is done.

The alternative nobody offers you

If the reason for moving is that several people need to answer, or that you want order updates automated, the Cloud API is not the only way to get either. The Web protocol does both with the number you already have, no verification and no migration - at the cost of Meta's support and certification. The honest comparison is worth reading before you start a process that cannot be undone.