Several staff on one WhatsApp number: four ways compared

There are four common ways to let several staff answer one WhatsApp number: share the phone, use linked devices, use WhatsApp Web, or connect the number to a shared inbox through the WhatsApp Business API. The first three are free but leave you guessing who said what. The fourth costs money and gives each person their own login and every chat an owner.

1. Pass the phone around

The most common setup in small businesses: one phone on the counter, whoever is free answers.

• Works for: one or two people in the same place.
• Breaks when: staff work different shifts, two people reply to the same customer, or the phone is lost, broken or reset. The chat history, and every quotation in it, lives on that phone.

2. Linked devices in the WhatsApp Business app

Since 2023, WhatsApp lets one account run on up to four additional linked devices, such as other phones, tablets or computers, while the main phone is offline.

• Works for: a small team that trusts each other to coordinate.
• Breaks when: you need to know who replied, who owns a customer, or what happened when someone leaves. Every device sees every chat. There is no assignment, no per-person login and no record of who sent which message.

3. WhatsApp Web on several computers

WhatsApp Web and the desktop app are linked devices, so they count toward the same limit and share the same strengths and gaps. They’re convenient for typing, but they don’t add structure.

4. A shared inbox on the WhatsApp Business API

The WhatsApp Business API connects your number to software instead of a phone. With a shared inbox, such as ezychat.io:

• Each person signs in as themselves, with a role that sets what they can see.
• Every chat has an owner, so customers aren’t answered twice or not at all.
• History lives in the system, so a lost phone or a departing staff member doesn’t take your customers with them.
• An AI agent can answer first, at any hour, and hand the chat to the right person.
• Instagram, Messenger and web chat can share the same queue.

What it costs:

• Meta’s per-message fees, billed to your own WhatsApp Business Account. See what Meta charges.
• The software. ezychat.io starts with a free plan for 2 seats; paid plans add more.
• A short set-up, and the number leaves the WhatsApp Business app.

Side by side

Which should you choose?

If two people answer and you rarely lose track, linked devices are enough. Once three or more people share the work, customers wait on more than one channel, or a lost phone would hurt, a shared inbox on the API pays for itself in chats that no longer fall through the gaps.