How to disconnect Coexistence and go back to the app only

How do I turn Coexistence off?

From the phone that holds the number. Meta documents a single route for a business to leave Cloud API when the number is shared with the WhatsApp Business app, and it runs through the app rather than through any dashboard or endpoint. Whoever holds the primary phone makes the decision, so an agency or developer asks the business to do it.

• Open the WhatsApp Business app on the primary device.
• Go to Settings, then Account, then Business Platform.
• Tap Disconnect Account and confirm.
• Expect an account_update webhook with the PARTNER_REMOVED event on the API side.

Why does the Deregister API refuse the number?

Because Meta excludes Coexistence numbers from it on purpose. The registration documentation states that the Deregister endpoint cannot deregister a business phone number that is in use with both Cloud API and the WhatsApp Business app.

Deregistering is the operation that makes a number unusable with Cloud API, and on an API-only number it is how you take a line off the platform. On a shared number the app is the primary owner of the line, so Meta routes the decision back to the person holding it. Software that tries the endpoint first gets an error, not a disconnection, and the number stays connected until someone taps the button in the app.

What happens to the app, the history and the number?

Disconnecting is not the same as deleting the account, and the difference is the whole answer.

Meta's warning about losing messaging history applies to deleting the WhatsApp Business app account and registering the number on Cloud API. Disconnecting does neither. The app stays installed and registered, the number stays on it, and the team carries on answering customers from the same phone.

What ends is the API side. The provider's app is removed from the number, so sending through Cloud API and webhook delivery for it stop. The features Coexistence switched off, such as broadcast lists, are covered on the page about disabled features.

Can the number be connected again later?

Yes, by running the onboarding flow again from the start. Meta's own documentation treats offboarding and completing the flow again as the normal way to reset a connection, for example when the 24 hour window to synchronise contacts and history has been missed.

A reconnection is a new onboarding, so the questions asked the first time are asked again, including whether to share chat history. Anything configured on the old connection, such as a webhook override, has to be applied again. A number that should move to a different provider follows the same path: disconnect here, then onboard with the new one.

Common mistakes

• Calling the Deregister endpoint on a Coexistence number. Meta refuses it; the disconnect happens in the app.
• Deleting the WhatsApp Business app account to get out. That is the route that loses the chat history.
• Treating PARTNER_REMOVED as an outage to retry. It is a deliberate disconnection by the business.

Frequently asked questions

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