Overview
Since September 2026, the same WhatsApp number can be handled by more than one responder: the platform, another partner (for example, a marketing tool) or Meta Business Agent (Meta's own AI agent). When that happens, Meta routes each conversation to a single owner. This feature is called Conversation Routing.
With routing active:
- each conversation has one owner at a time, and the customer's messages go to that owner;
- responders that are not the owner only receive a copy to follow along (called standby), if the business grants that visibility;
- Meta refuses free-form replies (text, media, buttons) from anyone who is not the owner. Approved templates are still accepted at any time.
The platform tracks the owner of each conversation and warns the team when another responder is handling it.
Prerequisites
- A WhatsApp Cloud inbox connected with Embedded Signup.
- Routing only exists when the number has two or more responders and the business has a routing configuration in Meta Business Suite. Without it, nothing changes.
- The business configures routing in Meta Business Suite. The platform cannot configure it through the API.
Step by step
- Before turning on Meta Business Agent or adding another partner, open Conversation Routing in Meta Business Suite and check whether a configuration already exists.
- Set the platform as the primary responder for the entry points your team handles (for example, Service, which is the default entry point).
- If the team needs to follow conversations handled by another responder, grant the platform standby visibility.
- If the team needs to take over conversations from Meta Business Agent, set the platform as the escalation partner. These options only appear after the business accepts the Meta Business Agent terms.
- After saving, send a test message and confirm it arrives in the platform inbox.
Settings & options
- Notice in the conversation: when another responder owns the conversation, it shows a yellow notice saying who is handling it (Meta Business Agent, another partner or another responder). The notice goes away by itself after 24 hours without customer messages, when Meta routes the next message again.
- Follow-along copies (standby): they enter the conversation as history, without notifying, reopening or triggering bots, automations or Maestro. When the copy is the first message of a conversation the platform did not have yet, the conversation is created the same way: quietly, with no agent or bot assigned. Replies sent by the other responder appear as sent messages.
- Hybrid inbox (Cloud + WhatsApp Web): a message that only arrives through WhatsApp Web becomes a follow-along copy only when that conversation is owned by another responder. Any other conversation keeps working normally, even when Meta delivers the Cloud copy late or not at all.
- When the conversation passes to your team (a handover, or a new customer message after the other responder's 24-hour window): the conversation is assigned to an agent by the inbox's automatic assignment, exactly like a new conversation, and never to a bot. A contact first seen while another responder owned the thread only now counts as a new contact for automations, flows and integrations. Conversation-creation automations do not run for this older conversation. If processing fails midway, a contact-created automation may run more than once.
- Handover: when Meta Business Agent or another partner passes the conversation to your team, a line appears in the history and, when Meta sends one, a conversation summary written by Meta.
- Refused message: if the team replies while another responder owns the conversation, Meta refuses the message and the platform shows Meta's own error. Meta has not yet published a specific code for this refusal; once it does, the platform will show a clear reason and stop retrying through WhatsApp Web. Until then, follow the notice at the top of the conversation: do not reply while it is visible.
Use cases
- Use Meta Business Agent for first-line support and the human team for the cases it passes on.
- Have one partner only for marketing campaign replies and the platform for customer service.
- Follow, without replying, the conversations another partner handles.
Tips, limits & best practices
- Turning on Meta Business Agent changes routing immediately: it becomes the primary responder for messages and the previous responders only follow along. Agree on it with the team first.
- Adding another partner can create the routing configuration automatically. Review it right after in Meta Business Suite.
- Migrating a number from another partner to the platform no longer exists in Meta's new account model: the business shares its WhatsApp account with the platform. Until the business sets the platform as the primary responder, messages may keep going to the previous partner.
- Calls follow a separate routing and do not change the conversation owner.
- Meta offers no "who owns it now" lookup. The platform infers the owner from the notices Meta sends; when there is no notice, the banner does not appear.
Troubleshooting
- Account Health says "No customer message has arrived through the API yet": the inbox has been connected for more than 24 hours without one message. If another WhatsApp partner already served the number, it is still the primary responder: set the platform as the primary responder in Conversation Routing, in Meta Business Suite. Messages that only arrive through WhatsApp Web, history imports and follow-along copies do not count. The notice disappears with the first message received through the API.
- The inbox stopped receiving messages after Meta Business Agent was turned on or a partner was added: the platform is no longer the primary responder. Adjust routing in Meta Business Suite or grant standby visibility.
- A message failed while the notice "another responder is handling" was visible: wait until the conversation is passed to your team or send an approved template.
- The conversation notice does not appear: check with your operations team that the
standbyandmessaging_handoverswebhook fields are active in the Meta app.