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Guide · 5 min read

Which number to use for WhatsApp Business

Your own mobile, a second SIM, the shop landline or a virtual number. What each one means for a small business, which numbers WhatsApp won’t accept, and how to change number later without losing your chats.

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The short answer

WhatsApp Business needs a number of its own: one that can receive a text or a call once, to get the six-digit registration code, and that isn’t already in use in ordinary WhatsApp. For a small business that leaves four realistic options, and one to be careful with:

  • Your own mobile, the one you already use.
  • A second SIM or eSIM, just for the business.
  • The business landline, the number already on your shopfront and your Google listing.
  • A new number, if you are starting from scratch.
  • Virtual and VoIP numbers, which WhatsApp’s help centre lists as unsupported.

The right choice depends less on the app than on who answers and when.

Can you use the same number for WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business?

Not at the same time. The help centre is clear that they are two different apps and a number can only be in one of them, although you can move it from one to the other. If you want both on the same phone, each needs its own number: a dual-SIM phone with your personal number in WhatsApp and the business number in WhatsApp Business is the usual set-up.

Moving your existing number from WhatsApp to WhatsApp Business keeps your chats; the steps are in WhatsApp vs WhatsApp Business.

Your own mobile

It is the obvious choice when you work alone: nothing to buy, your customers already have the number, and your chats come with you.

The catch is that business and personal life end up in the same place. Your friends and family see a business profile, customers message you on Sunday evening, and the day you take someone on to answer, they end up inside your personal chats too. Linked devices help (the same number on up to four computers or tablets), but the account is still yours.

A second SIM or eSIM

A separate number just for the business, on the same phone or on a second one that stays at the shop. Most recent phones take two numbers, and a SIM-only contract or an eSIM gets you one without a new handset.

It is what we would suggest to most small businesses that are growing: evenings are yours again (the business phone can stay at work), a member of staff can take over without touching your personal chats, and if someone leaves, the number stays with the business.

The business landline

Yes, you can put WhatsApp Business on a landline. According to the help centre, the Business app accepts a landline number you own: during registration you tap Call me and an automated voice reads out the code. Two conditions: the number can’t be an extension behind a switchboard, and it must be able to take that call.

The app itself still runs on a smartphone, which doesn’t need the landline’s SIM (there isn’t one); the landline only has to take the verification call. The advantage is that the number customers already know becomes the one they can message too. The downside: whoever answers WhatsApp needs that smartphone or a computer linked to it, which is exactly what the desktop app and WhatsApp Business Web are for.

Virtual, VoIP and special numbers

The same help page lists the numbers WhatsApp doesn’t support: VoIP numbers, toll-free numbers, premium-rate numbers, universal access numbers and personal numbers. In UK terms that rules out freephone (0800, 0808) and premium-rate (09) numbers.

Virtual numbers are the grey area. Many of them look like an ordinary 01 or 02 landline but are delivered over the internet by a VoIP provider. Some get through the registration call, but the help centre still lists VoIP as unsupported, so test it before printing it on your van. And keep paying for it: if the provider recycles the number, whoever gets it next can register WhatsApp on it.

Changing number without losing your chats

If you start on your own mobile and later want a dedicated number, WhatsApp’s Change number feature does the move. According to the help centre, it transfers your account information, settings and chats to the new number and deletes the account on the old one. Three things to do around it:

  1. Tell your customers first, and ask them to save the new number. Broadcast lists only reach people who have your number saved.
  2. Make a new backup afterwards. Backups are tied to the number that made them, so old ones won’t restore on the new number.
  3. Do it on purpose. The same page warns that the change can’t be undone.

If you plan to connect an assistant later

Connecting a number to the WhatsApp Business Platform, the version of WhatsApp that software can answer, has its own rules. Meta lets some providers connect a number while you keep using the app on it; others need a number that isn’t registered in the app at all. Conserjía’s current sign-up is one of the latter. If an assistant is on the horizon, ask the provider which of the two it does before you print a number on your van, your menus or your Google listing: moving a number later means telling every customer.

Which one to choose

  • You work alone with a handful of regular customers: your own mobile is fine.
  • Someone else answers, or you want your evenings back: a second SIM or eSIM.
  • Customers already call a landline: register the landline and answer from a linked computer.
  • Thinking of a virtual or freephone number: check the unsupported list first.

Once the number is decided, the rest takes an afternoon: how to set up WhatsApp Business walks through the profile and the settings that matter.

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