Differences between WhatsApp vs. WhatsApp Business explained

With almost three billion users, WhatsApp isn’t only one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, it’s also a great channel for businesses to interact with their customers. But what’s the difference between WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business, and why does it matter? What about the WhatsApp API? No worries, while the WhatsApp ecosystem can seem confusing, we’re here to walk you through it.

What’s the messaging app that users worldwide call their favorite? WhatsApp! What’s the messaging app that users around the world check the most each day? WhatsApp! What’s the messaging app users spend the most time on? WhatsApp! You get the picture: When it comes to chatting with friends, family, and co-workers, WhatsApp is the go-to app for most people around the globe.

But did you know that each day, millions of users also message a business on WhatsApp? Since it’s so common and convenient to use WhatsApp, many consumers have taken to contacting businesses on their favorite messaging app.

If your customer base is interested in interacting with your business on WhatsApp, there are several reasons to consider it.  

• Global reach: You can reach almost three billion users worldwide.
• Convenient communication: In countries like India, Brazil, and Germany, WhatsApp is already on almost every smartphone and people use it daily. That makes it incredibly easy to establish WhatsApp as a customer communication channel as well.
• Rich messaging features: WhatsApp supports rich features like images, videos, product catalogs, and more that make for a more engaging user experience.
• Safe communication: All WhatsApp chats are end-to-end encrypted, so only sender and recipient can read the message.  
• Verified profiles: Private WhatsApp users as well as businesses have to verify their phone number, which adds an extra layer of security and trust.

The bottom line is: People love the WhatsApp messenger, they want to chat with businesses on WhatsApp, and offering WhatsApp as a customer communication channel has many benefits for companies. But… how do you actually interact with customers on WhatsApp?

Can you simply use your personal WhatsApp? Is it better to use the WhatsApp Business app? And what’s the difference anyway? We’re glad you asked!

The main difference between WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business is the intended user.

The standard WhatsApp is a personal messaging app for private communication. It’s available for free for iOS and Android. WhatsApp Business is also a free application, but it’s specifically designed for businesses. WhatsApp launched it in 2018 as demand for business usage of the messaging app grew.

However, since then, WhatsApp has also made it clear that businesses aren’t allowed to use the private WhatsApp for commercial purposes. Any non-personal use is prohibited by WhatsApp’s terms.

Even if you had a choice between the regular WhatsApp vs. WhatsApp Business, you would most likely prefer the business version for its additional features.

Here’s an overview of the most important features of the standard (personal) WhatsApp.

• Profile: Users can create a WhatsApp account and personal profile with a username, short bio, and image.
• Group chats: You can set up WhatsApp groups with up to 1,024 members.
• Multimedia: Users can send images, voice messages, videos, emojis, GIFs, and documents through WhatsApp.
• VoIP: The personal WhatsApp also supports voice and video calls.
• Status: Private users can share text, images, videos, or voice memos in their status updates. These disappear after 24 hours.
• Broadcast: Users can also use a feature called “broadcast” to send one message to up to 256 recipients. Unlike in the group chats, these WhatsApp messages end up in each user’s personal inbox where only they can see it.
• Encryption: WhatsApp offers an end-to-end encryption (based on the Signal protocol) as default.
• WhatsApp Web and Desktop: Users can sync their chats with their browsers or download the desktop app to manage their WhatsApp messages that way.

These are the main features of the WhatsApp Business app.

• Company profile: Your company profile contains a link to a dedicated company page where you can add relevant information like your business hours or a link to your website. WhatsApp has to verify your phone number before you’re allowed to create a WhatsApp Business account.
• WhatsApp Broadcast: The business version also offers the broadcast feature for sending one-to-many messages for up to 256 unique contacts per broadcast list. You can only send broadcast messages to users that have saved your number in their contacts. Also keep in mind that you can’t schedule or personalize these messages and if you exceed the limit, WhatsApp can and will block your number.
• Product catalog: Companies can include up to 500 products or services in their product catalog. They’re also displayed on your business profile, and you can share the items in the chat. Products can contain information like price, a description, and a link to a landing page.
• Quick replies: These are pre-written answers that you can save and then send in a chat without having to write them each time. They’re particularly useful for answering FAQs.
• Automated notifications: Some messages like greeting messages or away notifications can be sent automatically.
• WhatsApp Web and Desktop: Business users also have access to WhatsApp Web and Desktop.

Because it’s super manual, WhatsApp Business app is great for small companies that need a simple, free way to handle a low volume of customer inquiries. However, it does have some limitations.

• No green badge: Unless a user has saved you in their contacts, you appear as an unknown number to them. They won’t see your company name and logo, and there is no way for businesses using the WhatsApp Business app to get the green check mark.
• No integration with CRM systems: If you want to track, gather, and save data, you have to do it manually.
• No analytics: There are no analytics tools to evaluate marketing campaigns.
• No scalable personalization: You can’t personalize messages by automatically adding user-specific data like their name or a product they previously bought.
• Limited number of people who can answer customer inquiries: There’s a maximum of four agents for WhatsApp Business.
• Limited automation: Automating features for messages are very limited, and you can’t integrate chatbots.
• Issues with data compliance: If you follow stricter data regulations like the GDPR, the WhatsApp Business app won’t be compliant.

All things considered, the WhatsApp Business app is only meant for freelancers or small business owners with up to five employees that handle very few inquiries and aren’t worried about data protection.

Luckily, for those businesses that need more functionality, WhatsApp does have another business solution: the WhatsApp Business Platform (API). We’ll go through that next.

The WhatsApp Business API, also known as WhatsApp Business Platform, is WhatsApp’s most advanced business offer. While it’s not free, it has all the business tools companies need to scale their WhatsApp channel.

With the Business API, you can connect one account with unlimited devices and user profiles. This means you don’t need to throttle customer support through the world’s most popular messaging platform.

Being an API user is the only way to get WhatsApp’s sought-after green badge, also known as green tick or green check mark. The verification check mark will appear next to your company name. It also ensures that even when you contact new users, your name and logo appear instead of an unknown number. This branded appearance increases trust and improves customer relationships.

On the WhatsApp API, message limits are much higher, and you can also send communications to users that haven’t saved you in their contacts. This includes marketing messages.

In addition, you can use pre-designed message templates, add variables for automated personalization, schedule messages, tracking tools, and much more – which makes it easy to scale your marketing campaign and increases customer engagement.

Just make sure that you get consent for WhatsApp marketing. After all, you don’t want to message users that aren’t interested in your content. This creates a bad user experience, gets your company a bad reputation, and will also lower your conversions. WhatsApp has also made it very clear that WhatsApp is meant to be a spam-free space. So, messages that are marked as spam by users will get blocked.  

You can gather consent for marketing messages in a number of ways:  

• WhatsApp users initiate a customer support inquiry (through a QR code, for example) and during this session, the business requests that the user opt-in for marketing messages.  
• WhatsApp users opt in to receive messages via a separate channel like email, SMS, RCS, and more. 
• WhatsApp users opt in to receive messages on a form on the business’ landing page, or on a customer support call.  
• Once a new user enters the WhatsApp chat, an automated message is displayed that asks them to actively opt in to receiving marketing messages.

Keep in mind that if a user feels spammed, they can report the business to Meta which may result in the business receiving a reduced quality rating, lower daily messaging limits, or even a ban on sending future messages.  

With the standard business app, you’ll need to manage a traditional, in-app contact list separate from any CRM your business uses. With the API, you can integrate the two so you don’t run the risk of duplicating or omitting important contacts. 

This also makes it easier to create custom target audiences or use in-chat information for future campaigns or customer communications.

If you’re looking for automation in your WhatsApp customer interactions, the API is the option to choose. Program your own automation or connect bots to help answer common questions and give support teams time to breathe. 

WhatsApp Flows, which guide users through a series of automated steps, are another powerful tool in the API. These can handle everything from onboarding new customers to walking them through troubleshooting, reducing the need for direct agent involvement. 

Hook it up to other internal systems to send revenue-generating messages like: 

• Automated renewal reminders 
• Personalized promotional offers 
• Marketing campaign content 

You can also use it to reduce support staff workload by sending automated custom messages such as: 

• Delivery updates 
• Appointment reminders 
• Payment approvals 

There’s no shortage of ways the WhatsApp Business API can speed up your workflow. And who wouldn’t want their agents spending their valuable time actually assisting customers and solving complex problems?

The WhatsApp Business app syncs phone contacts without prior consent, gathers personal metadata without explicit approval, and customer information is processed on Meta’s servers in the U.S. These practices don’t comply with data protection requirements in some regions like the European Union.

The API, on the other hand, lets you take control over how customer data is processed which allows you to stay compliant.

No. There are no specific business size requirements to use the API. It really depends on your needs. If you can easily handle the manual tasks in your WhatsApp communication, the WhatsApp Business app is probably enough. However, businesses that want to scale their WhatsApp business communication will benefit from the API, regardless of their size.

Depending on where your company or customers are located, you also need to use the API to be able to stay compliant with stricter data regulations like the European GDPR.

Note that WhatsApp has some restrictions on how certain types of businesses (e.g., weapons, drugs, alcohol, pharmaceuticals) can use WhatsApp. Check WhatsApp’s Business Messaging guidelines for further details.

The simplest way to use the WhatsApp API is to work with a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP) like Sinch. These BSPs have been verified and authorized by Meta to offer official WhatsApp Business API solutions.

At Sinch, you can access the WhatsApp API through our Conversation API. This will not only give you access to the full suite of WhatsApp Business API features, but you’ll also be able to integrate other systems like your CRM or even other rich messaging channels like Facebook Messenger, Telegram, or RCS.

Plus, you can rest assured that you’ll comply with the strictest data regulations and offer your customers not only an engaging, but also a secure communication channel.

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Author: Marinela Potor Marinela Potor is a Senior Content Marketing Manager at Sinch. With a background in tech journalism, she specializes in messaging and AI.