Almost every Sri Lankan shop already uses the WhatsApp Business app. The question is whether you need anything more, and the honest answer is: only when you stop being able to keep up.
The plain difference
| Business app | Business Platform (API) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who replies | A person, by hand | Software, automatically |
| Cost | Free | Free platform; templates charged per message |
| Works when you sleep | No | Yes |
| Multiple staff at once | Limited | Yes |
| Connects to your product catalogue | No | Yes |
| Setup | Install and go | Business verification with Meta |
If one person can comfortably answer every message, the free app is the right tool and you should not pay for anything else. The API earns its place the day messages start going unanswered.
You no longer have to choose
This used to be a hard decision, because putting a number on the API removed it from the phone app. Meta changed that in 2025 with a feature called coexistence.
- The same number works in the app and through software at the same time.
- Up to six months of your existing chat history carries across.
- Messages the software sends appear in your phone app too, and if you reply from the phone, the software sees it.
That removes the old objection completely: you keep WhatsApp on your phone exactly as it is today, and software simply helps.
Things to know before switching
- 1You must already be using the WhatsApp Business app — brand-new numbers are not eligible for coexistence.
- 2Open the app at least once every 13 days or the connection goes inactive.
- 3Set your profile photo and business name before connecting; the photo cannot be changed afterwards.
- 4Your WhatsApp Web or desktop sessions get unlinked once, and you re-link them after.
- 5Group chats do not sync — only one-to-one customer conversations.
None of these are difficult, but every one of them is a surprise if nobody tells you first.