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WhatsApp coexistence: what the history sync brings (and what it doesn't)

Updated 2026-07-21

In two lines: when you connect a number in coexistence, your business number keeps working in the WhatsApp Business app and in MB Suite. It brings over your contacts and the last 6 months of your one-on-one chats — but some old files and a few message types stay in the phone. Here's exactly what to expect.

What is coexistence?

Coexistence lets the same number work in two places at once: the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, exactly as you use it today, and MB Suite, where your team replies alongside each contact's history. You don't have to stop using the phone app — both stay in sync from the moment you connect. It's the most common way to bring an existing business line into the CRM.

Coexistence needs the WhatsApp Business app updated to a recent version (2.24.17 or later). If your number is on a personal WhatsApp, you first move it to the WhatsApp Business app — a native WhatsApp flow that keeps your chats — and then connect it. Those migrated chats are included in the history sync.

What gets synced when you connect

When you connect, MB Suite brings a one-time copy of the last 6 months (180 days) of your one-on-one chats. From that history, these arrive complete:

  • All the conversation text, emojis included.
  • Reactions and shared locations.
  • The captions of photos, videos, and documents (the text written alongside a file).
  • Your business contacts: the address book syncs in full, separately from the chat history, and creates each person in the CRM.

Why don't I see my old photos and videos?

This is the most common question, so here's the exact rule. For media files (photos, videos, audios, stickers, documents), only the files from the last 14 days are pulled in automatically. Older files show up as [File not synced]: the message and its caption are there, but the file itself isn't.

This is a limitation of WhatsApp itself, not of MB Suite: WhatsApp doesn't hand over those older files, so no tool can recover them into the CRM. The original files stay safe in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone — nothing is deleted.

What isn't included in the history

  • Groups don't sync — neither their history nor new messages. Coexistence covers one-on-one chats only.
  • Polls, deleted messages, and "view once" messages aren't available: they appear as [Message not available].
  • A shared contact inside a chat may appear as [Contact], without the full detail.
When you connect, WhatsApp turns off disappearing messages and "view once" in the one-on-one chats of that number, so the conversations stay readable from both places going forward.

There's a 24-hour window to finish the history

The history sync is a one-time process that runs in the background and can take a while. You have a 24-hour window after connecting for it to finish. If for some reason it doesn't complete in time, the fix is to disconnect and connect the number again to restart it.

From here on, everything syncs both ways

Everything that happens after you connect syncs in full, both directions and files included: a message you reply from the phone app appears in MB Suite, and one you send from MB Suite appears on the phone. The history's 6-month and 14-day limits only apply to the one-time copy of what existed before you connected — from that point on, nothing is left behind.

To keep a coexistence line active, Meta asks you to open the WhatsApp Business app on the phone at least once every ~14 days. If the sync stops, opening the app reactivates it — see My WhatsApp doesn't send or receive messages.

Where do I go next?

Still have questions?

Ask MIA, the MB Suite AI assistant: open it with the MB AI button (⌘J) in the top bar. MIA knows the section you're in, so you can ask it about what you see on screen — and it can also answer how-to questions about using MB Suite.