Guide · 6 min read
WhatsApp Business Web: answering from your computer
Answering from the computer at the front desk is what turns WhatsApp into a work tool. How to link it, how many devices you get, what breaks and why, and how to set it up so it stays put.
What WhatsApp Business Web actually is
WhatsApp Business Web is your business account opened in a browser. It is one more screen on the same number, with no separate app or second account, so you can read and reply with a keyboard and mouse from the front desk, the reception or the back office.
It lives at web.whatsapp.com (the same address for personal and business accounts) and you link it by scanning a QR code with the phone that has the WhatsApp Business app installed. There is also a desktop app for Windows and Mac, downloaded from whatsapp.com/download, which does the same job without depending on a browser tab. If you were looking for WhatsApp Business for Mac, that is it: one desktop app that works with a business account once it is linked.
Web or desktop app
| WhatsApp Business Web | Desktop app | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Your browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) | Installed program (Windows, Mac) |
| Notifications | Only while the browser is open | Like any program, even minimised |
| Survives someone closing the browser | No | Yes |
| Best for | A shared or occasional computer | The fixed desk of whoever answers every day |
For a front desk that is staffed eight hours a day, the desktop app is the one to use: notifications come through while the till software is open, and the session doesn’t vanish because someone closed the wrong window.
How to link it, step by step
- On the computer, open
web.whatsapp.comor the desktop app. You will see a QR code. - On the phone, in WhatsApp Business: on Android, tap the three dots at the top; on iPhone, go to Settings. Then Linked devices → Link a device.
- Point the camera at the QR code. After a few seconds your chats appear on the computer.
- If the computer is yours and only yours, choose to stay logged in. If it is shared, don’t: the session ends when you log out.
From the same Linked devices screen you can see which computers have the account open and log any of them out with a tap. It is worth checking whenever someone stops working for you.
How many devices you can link
According to WhatsApp’s help centre, a WhatsApp Business account works on the main phone plus up to four linked devices at a time: computers, tablets or even another phone. Each one runs on its own, without the main phone being switched on or online, with two exceptions from the same page: if the main phone goes unused for more than 14 days, the linked devices are logged out, and a linked device that sits idle for 30 days is disconnected too.
Four is usually plenty for a small business: the owner’s phone, the front desk, the office and a spare. Meta’s paid subscriptions add multi-agent: up to 10 devices depending on the plan, chats assigned to named people and a record of who sent what (with more than four devices, calls only ring on the main phone).
What you can and can’t do from the computer
Almost everything you do day to day: read, reply, send photos and documents, use quick replies with ‘/’, apply labels, send items from your catalogue, archive and search.
The help centre lists what linked devices don’t support at all:
- Broadcast lists: you can’t create or view them from a linked device.
- Status updates: you can’t post or delete them.
- Live location: you can’t share or view it.
Other business tools, such as the profile, the catalogue or the automatic messages, may or may not be on the computer depending on your version. If a setting isn’t there, look for it on the phone. The practical rule: answer from the computer, set things up from the phone.
What goes wrong, and why
It won’t load messages, or it hangs on ‘Connecting’. Nearly always the browser: an extension that blocks something, a full cache or an old version. Try a private window; if it works there, an extension is the culprit.
It keeps disconnecting. If the computer goes to sleep, the web session drops. On a front desk, turn off automatic sleep or use the desktop app.
The linked devices have logged out on their own. The main phone has gone more than 14 days without being used. Switch it on, open WhatsApp Business and link the computer again.
Notifications don’t arrive. In the browser you have to allow them the first time (a prompt appears at the top). On Windows, also check Focus or Do Not Disturb, which silence them without telling you.
Every computer dropped at once after trying Meta’s AI agent. Switching on Meta Business Agent disconnects all linked devices, and the help centre says WhatsApp for Windows can’t be linked again while it is on. Most other devices can.
Someone else is reading the chats. Go to Linked devices and log out any session you don’t recognise. If in doubt, log them all out and link your own devices again. With notifications on, the main phone alerts you when a device is linked, and you can remove it from that alert.
Setting it up properly at a front desk
- Desktop app, not a tab. It survives restarts, minimising and a change of user.
- One desk, one session. Each computer linked under its own name, so that when someone leaves you log out only theirs.
- Quick replies that are still true. You write them once and use them a thousand times from the keyboard: make sure the opening hours, prices and cancellation policy in them are today’s.
- A ‘to answer’ label and a check before closing. Five minutes at the end of the day, filtered by that label, and nothing is left without a reply.
When the front desk outgrows it
WhatsApp Business Web solves one problem: replying comfortably. It doesn’t solve the two that turn up as the business grows: someone answering when nobody is at the desk, and booking an appointment or taking a deposit without copying things from one place to another.
That is what the WhatsApp Business Platform is for, the version of WhatsApp that connects your number to software, and the services that run it for you. Conserjía is one of them, built for small businesses that run on appointments: it answers on your number, books into your real diary and passes the chat to a person when the customer asks. Before deciding anything, it is worth knowing what the WhatsApp Business auto reply can and can’t do on its own.