WhatsApp Business App - Functionality and limitations
Day-to-day operations - who can do what
The advisor, from his phone
He continues to use his WhatsApp Business application exactly as before: reading messages, replying, and proactively messaging his customers. Everything is automatically synchronized in Alcmeon.
An obligation to be aware of
Open the WhatsApp Business app at least once every 14 days. After that, Meta will desynchronize the account, and messages will no longer appear in Alcmeon until the app is reopened.
The advisors, in Alcmaeon
They treat conversations in the WhatsApp Business App channel just like any other channel: inbox, chat page, text and image replies, and favorite replies. When an agent replies from their phone, the conversation is automatically marked as resolved, and the reply is visible in the history.
Beyond the 24-hour window after the last message from the client, Alcmeon automatically offers to send a template.
The administrator Alcmeon
It connects and manages accounts, configures triage rules (assignment, priority, team), bot scenarios, satisfaction surveys and working hours, and tracks activity in Analytics with filters by account and by channel.
The client
Nothing changes for him: he writes to the same number as before, from his usual WhatsApp application.
Limitations
Features disabled in the WhatsApp Business app
After connecting in Coexistence mode, Meta disables certain features in the advisor's application:
- Ephemeral messages
- Single viewing of photo or video ("view once")
- Live location
- Mailing lists: existing lists become read-only
- Editing and deleting a sent message
- Messages sent to WhatsApp groups are not synchronized in Alcmeon.
Technical constraints
- 14-day rule: If the advisor's WhatsApp Business app is not opened for 14 days, Meta will desynchronize the account. The advisor must reopen their app to restore synchronization.
- Sending rate: Sending messages via the API is limited to 20 messages per second on this type of account.
- History prior to login: Conversations conducted before the account was logged in are not included in Alcmeon. Synchronization only applies to messages exchanged after the login.
- Companion devices: Messages sent from an unsupported companion device (e.g., WhatsApp for Windows or Wear OS) will not sync. Use WhatsApp Web or WhatsApp for Mac.
Functional scope
- Account-based, not person-based : messages are linked to the WhatsApp Business App account, not to an identified advisor. Alcmeon does not manage the precise assignment of a number to a specific person (and their individual tracking).
- Statistics per advisor : For replies sent from the advisor's phone, Meta does not transmit the sender's identity. Therefore, statistics per advisor are not available for these messages; however, overall volume and response times are.
- Absence management and backup routing : managing an advisor's absence and automatic routing rules to a pair or team in case of unavailability are not supported.
- Calls and voice conversations : calls and voice exchanges made directly in the application between the advisor and the customer are not recoverable in Alcmeon.
- Bot scenarios on a group of accounts : a scenario is configured account by account; configuration on a group of WhatsApp Business App accounts is not available.
- Marketing campaigns : Sending campaigns from Alcmeon is not available on WhatsApp Business App accounts.
- Multi-user : One WhatsApp Business App account corresponds to one advisor. Sharing the same account between multiple advisors is not supported.
- Billing : messages sent by the advisor from their application remain free; messages sent via Alcmeon (API) are billed by Meta according to its pricing schedule.