How to let multiple staff reply from one WhatsApp number

Customers in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines expect to reach a business on one WhatsApp number. Behind that number there is usually a team: the owner, sales staff, someone handling deliveries. When everything runs through one phone, the same problems show up in almost every shop:

• Messages are missed when the person holding the phone is busy or off duty.
• Two staff answer the same customer, or nobody does.
• Nobody knows who promised what to which customer.
• The phone gets passed around, with the owner’s personal chats on it.

There are three ways to fix this. They differ mainly in cost, limits and control.

The free WhatsApp Business app lets you link other devices to the same account, the way WhatsApp Web works. Staff open WhatsApp Web or WhatsApp Desktop on their computer and scan a QR code from the phone.

1. 1
   On the business phone, open WhatsApp Business → Settings → Linked devices.
2. 2
   Tap Link a device.
3. 3
   On the staff computer, open web.whatsapp.com and scan the QR code shown there.

Good: free, official and quick to set up.

Limits: up to four linked devices besides the phone (more with a paid Meta Verified subscription). Every device sees every chat, replies all appear as the business, and there is no way to see who replied, assign a chat to one person or leave notes for colleagues. The phone also has to come online regularly or the linked devices are logged out.

Larger teams often move to the WhatsApp Business Platform (the API) through a provider such as Wati, respond.io, SleekFlow or Qontak. The provider gives every agent a login, routing, automation and reporting.

Good: official, scales to many agents and numbers, supports approved broadcast templates.

Limits: you pay twice: a monthly fee to the provider (often per agent) and Meta’s per-message charges. Business-initiated messages need approved templates, and moving an existing number to the API takes some setup.

EzyChat Lite is a free, open-source app for Windows and macOS. It links your existing WhatsApp number once, as one linked device, and serves a shared inbox to your whole team. Each person signs in with their own account from a browser on the office network, or from anywhere through your own Cloudflare tunnel, and can install the inbox on their phone with notifications.

1. 1
   Download EzyChat Lite and install it on a computer that stays on during business hours.
2. 2
   Create the admin account and link your number with a QR or pairing code.
3. 3
   Invite your staff. Each person gets their own login.
4. 4
   Your team replies from one inbox: whoever replies first owns the chat and their name shows on it, chats can be reassigned, and internal notes stay invisible to customers.

You can also switch on an optional AI sales agent that answers customers from your business information and hands the chat to a person when needed. It uses your own OpenAI key or ChatGPT sign-in; EzyChat adds no fee.

• One or two people reply: linked devices in the WhatsApp Business app are enough.
• A small team that needs to know who handles which customer: a free team inbox such as EzyChat Lite gives everyone their own login, assignment and notes without monthly fees.
• High volume, broadcasts or many numbers: the WhatsApp Business API with a provider, or EzyChat Enterprise if you want it built around your workflows.