Your number, your @username and the official WhatsApp API: what changes

A WhatsApp number can live in one of two places, never in both at the same time: in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app on a phone, or in the official WhatsApp Business API (Cloud API), where ORYKSA sends and receives on your behalf. This article tells you, from real experience, what happens when you move a number.

The two ways ORYKSA connects WhatsApp

• QR code (the app on your phone): the number stays in the WhatsApp app; ORYKSA connects to it like WhatsApp Web. You keep your profile, your @username and your chats.
• Official API (Connect with Meta): the number is registered on the WhatsApp Business Platform. It leaves the phone app and only works through the API.

What happens to a number that goes to the API

• The WhatsApp app on the phone stops working for that number. The number is not lost: it can be registered in the app again later, after you remove it from the API in WhatsApp Manager.
• The chats in the app do not move to the API. If you delete the account in the app, WhatsApp also deletes the backups, so keep what you need before.
• Your @username (the new WhatsApp names) belongs to the app account. On the API there are no @usernames: customers reach an API number only by the phone number, and see the verified business name you set with Meta. If someone searches your @name, they find the app account, not the API number.
• The business profile on the API is separate: name, description, address, website and category are set in Meta when you register the number.

Can customers find my API number through my @name?

No. @usernames only exist in the app. Keep the @name on a number that stays in the app and put the API number in that profile, on your website and on your Google listing.

What we recommend

1. Keep the number that has your history and your @name in the WhatsApp Business app, connected to ORYKSA by QR code if you want the AI answering there.
2. Use a new, dedicated number for the official API. Buy it for this purpose; do not use a personal number.
3. Connect it in Connectors > WhatsApp > Connect with Meta. Your business must be verified by Meta for full messaging limits.
4. Never delete the WhatsApp account of a number you still use on a phone: Meta shows the error "This phone number is already registered to a WhatsApp account" for exactly that reason.

If you already moved a number and want it back

In WhatsApp Manager (Meta Business Suite) remove the number from the WhatsApp account of the API, wait a few minutes and register it again in the app with the SMS code. The chats and the @name that existed before do not come back.