WhatsApp Messenger and Business on a single iPhone

Explore using WhatsApp Messenger and Business on one iPhone. Learn about the dual experience in this informative article.

WhatsApp Messenger and Business on a single iPhone
Separating WhatsApp Messenger and WhatsApp Business App on an iPhone with a virtual phone number.

I heard that you can use both WhatsApp Messenger and WhatsApp Business on the same iPhone, and I saw it as a great way to separate personal and business messaging. But I came back from that idea after a pretty cold shower. It is not a good solution.

I purchased a new number specifically for my business traffic. A number that also indicates that I am in Amsterdam, but transfers this landline to my mobile phone. A so-called virtual number. Another such virtual number can be linked to WhatsApp, you will get a call in which a six-digit code is transmitted.

WhatsApp Messenger and Business on the same iPhone

So request number, install WhatsApp Business app, configure it and it worked. I was completely happy! But the misery started when I also wanted to create separate address books. WhatsApp's contacts are on the server, and so I thought I could delete my private addresses from WhatsApp Business app.

But that deletion is very difficult, namely one by one and with three screens, but later I also understood why and that I should actually be happy. This is because WhatsApp Messenger (personal) and WhatsApp Business (business) share the iPhone address book. If you discard something from WhatsApp, you also discard it from the iPhone and from the other WhatsApp app. Sigh.

My WhatsApp Business with virtual number.
My WhatsApp Business with virtual number.

Segmenting contacts

Segmenting your customers in this way does become very difficult, if not impossible. It very well shows the limitation of WhatsApp Business. It actually needs a completely standalone phone with its own address book. And therefore also with its own Apple ID.

That doesn't work for me on a day-to-day basis, and I am now considering the possibilities of WhatsApp Business API. But the requirement is actually also there that I can manage the chats via the mobile phone, otherwise reachability becomes too difficult to fill in.

For whom is such a solution suitable?

Actually, mainly for people where there is a large overlap between personal and business contacts. And where the customer base is not too large and where communication takes place entirely through one person. Multiple links can be made, but no information about any conversations can be shared.