WhatsApp Business: API vs APP - Pros and Cons Comparison

Numerous instant messaging platforms have appeared on the market over the years, but only one has been able to dominate it and take over as the primary messaging communication tool globally. 

As a result, WhatsApp has developed into a very well-known, incredibly dependable, and, most importantly, secure cross-platform communication service, as the company values the privacy of its two billion monthly active users around the world. 

These users utilize WhatsApp to stay in touch with their loved ones.

A more developed version of WhatsApp, WhatsApp Business, incorporates tools for customer support and sales. 

A company's photo, name, address, and website are all listed on its WhatsApp profile, along with its email and website addresses.

It's referred to as a "business account."

Companies that utilize WhatsApp Business are subject to the policy that governs corporate use, known as the WhatsApp Commerce Policy. 

It makes sure that inappropriate and illegal content is kept off WhatsApp. 

This keeps the app a trustworthy and effective communication tool.

On WhatsApp Business, there are two ways to message your clients. 

The WhatsApp Business API, which links the messenger to expert customer messaging software, and the straightforward WhatsApp Business App are both smartphone applications.

In addition to being incredibly easy to use and intuitive, WhatsApp also allows you to transmit videos, photos, documents, advertising, and other content in addition to text messages. 

In addition to all of this, another crucial element is that the chats are end-to-end encrypted, demonstrating the company's priority on security.

WhatsApp's platform was created with a variety of users in mind, including individuals, small enterprises, and even huge corporations.

Whichever choice you select, you will have varying benefits and drawbacks. 

Let's examine them more closely.

WhatsApp Business App
_‍

The WhatsApp Business App was created for businesses of all sizes to build a professional, useful, secure, and efficient contact channel within the WhatsApp platform. 

Each business will be able to use their company WhatsApp Account without using any personal numbers thanks to this feature. 

Businesses have profited greatly from WhatsApp's updates to the Business app, which have optimized it for sales and user communication and allow users to browse catalogs and view firm details like address, activity, logo, and much more.

Let's break down WhatsApp Business's operation in simple terms: 

First and foremost, you should be aware that you can access the app from both an Android and an iOS mobile device. 

Additionally, all messages must be assisted or managed manually, meaning that a person can respond to messages via the app. 

As a result, you cannot have multiple agents interacting with customers, but this problem can be solved with a provider like ChatDaddy.

It functions similarly to WhatsApp in general, but it also allows you the opportunity to add a catalog, company information, and purchase buttons. 

Additionally, your profile will be displayed as that of a corporation rather than an individual.

The "Quick Reply" function of WhatsApp Business enables users to submit predetermined responses to frequently requested inquiries. 

Along with "Quick Reply," WhatsApp Business also offers the opportunity to categorize conversations, send welcome and goodbye messages, and other capabilities.

WhatsApp Business is popular among businesses since it enables them to deliver messages professionally and cost-free to their clients' devices so long as they have an internet connection.

Due to WhatsApp's popularity outside of the business world, businesses found the app appealing, especially because they could send free messages directly to their clients' devices as long as those devices were online.

WhatsApp Business API

The WhatsApp Business API and WhatsApp Business are extremely dissimilar. It is specifically made for big or expanding businesses. 

This version offers very unusual, cutting-edge, and distinctive features that are tailored for the corporate environment and that you won't find in regular WhatsApp Business.

 One of these standout features is the option to add the green checkmark, which confirms whether your business is legitimate and reputable, to your WhatsApp profile.

While the APIs can be obtained in a variety of ways, WhatsApp Business is free to download and lets you set up your account using a mobile or landline number. 

Any organization that wants to use WhatsApp APIs' services must contact or request the services of a business solution provider (BSP). 

Following completion, WhatsApp will require account verification, which is only made possible by your BSP partner, and you will have access to your APIs.

These are paid services like any other, but they are crucial because they provide you access to tools that, outside of the APIs, no other WhatsApp account has. 

These features include process automation and contact synchronization, a centralized dashboard, and much more.

The WhatsApp API's ability to let multiple users log into the same account simultaneously is one of its most unexpected features. 

This feature enables users to use their dashboard and inbox, communicate with all customers, leave internal messages for other team members, send multimedia messages with photos, videos, or documents, and access helpful features like detailed analysis, reports, and more.

We are aware that WhatsApp offers apps for Android and iOS devices in both of its versions—the regular and the business—while the WhatsApp Business API lacks a mobile interface. 

This implies that you won't be able to use a mobile interface with any operating system until BSP offers one. In this instance, ChatDaddy offers a mobile app that enables you to stay in touch with your clients even while you are away from a computer.

Throughout the entire time, we have used WhatsApp apps, we have observed how they cap the size of files we can share at a maximum of 100 MB; but, in this situation, using the APIs, it is our BSP that is responsible for altering the maximum size of each file.

Advantages of WhatsApp for Business

The WhatsApp Business app was created with small enterprises and solopreneurs in mind. The program can be downloaded for free from the App Store or Google Play Store and has a user interface that is pretty similar to your personal WhatsApp. 

The advantages of the WhatsApp Business app are as follows:

• Mobile app. You always have a connection to your customers in your pocket thanks to the smartphone app. 

You can swiftly answer client inquiries in "downtime" or between appointments. 

If you do independent business or travel frequently, the WhatsApp Business app is extremely helpful.

• Use of the private app in parallel. On a smartphone, the private WhatsApp app can coexist with the WhatsApp Business app. 

No SIM card is necessary; all you need is a second landline or mobile phone number.

• Labels are a feature of advanced chat. These let you annotate chats with specific information, such as the status of a customer as a "new customer" or an "existing customer." 

Chats can be sorted using labels, each of which can be given a name.

automated communication To ensure a prompt response, create a welcome message. Customers are informed when you will get back to them when you are away, for instance.

prompt responses. Create standard messages with the help of this feature so that they may be added with shorthand like "#thanks."

• Assemble a library. WhatsApp has created a catalog function for businesses that wish to display their products right in the app. 

With it, you can link to your online store while showcasing your collection or special deals with a photo, price, and description.

• Create a brief link. Within the app, you can immediately create a click-to-chat link so that clients may get in touch with you with just one click and without first saving their phone numbers. 
• Alternatively, if you're utilizing the WhatsApp Business API, you can manually generate the click-to-chat link.

The Disadvantages of WhatsApp Business

• Mostly not GDPR compliant. The main flaw in the WhatsApp Business app is the potential for data protection problems. 

As an illustration, the software reads all saved contacts' phone numbers automatically. Utilizing the WhatsApp API will help you prevent this.

• Just five gadgets are allowed. The app's limitation to one smartphone and a maximum of four other devices is another drawback. T

hen, each of these devices must be connected to the same number and, if required, shared among employees.

• One employee account only. Although five devices are typically plenty for small organizations, every employee uses the same account. 

This implies that neither you nor your clients can trace which employees provide which responses, which may give the impression that your customer support is not transparent.

• There is no professional service available. The WhatsApp Business app is inferior to the Business API, which makes it possible to perform sophisticated sales and service operations. 

In the following section, we'll outline the benefits the WhatsApp Business API offers.

Advantages of WhatsApp Business API

For businesses looking to serve customers from the top of the funnel to the bottom and beyond, the WhatsApp Business API offers some benefits:

1. Encouraging Dialog

While WhatsApp excels at providing practical customer services like notifications and alerts, its true power resides in its capacity to make it simple for marketers to interact with customers in real-time on a two-way basis. 

In a world where conversational commerce is quickly taking over, this is essential. Nowadays, customers expect to be able to easily interact with live agents and speak with them to find the goods, services, and customer experiences they desire.

Remember that 80% of "regular shoppers" who identify themselves as such will only make purchases from companies that cater to their individual needs; this is another expectation that WhatsApp Business was created to meet. 

For instance, businesses can tailor the content of messages to each customer based on factors like their name, past purchases, and location, including nation and city. 

Better yet, since WhatsApp offers accurate information on message delivery and crucial read 

rates, businesses can assess how effectively their personalization initiatives are working.

Importantly, it is simple to use such potent customization functionality. Because of WhatsApp's streamlined approach, brands can avoid using long numbers or short codes and are not constrained by regional telecom laws. Instead, the firm may set up its account with a single dedicated phone number, create a formal, fully-branded business profile, and add essential details like email and phone contacts, social media links, store addresses, website URLs, and more.

2. Securing Messaging

The WhatsApp Business API is built on a crucial pillar of enterprise-level security. For instance, before activation, WhatsApp verifies all information related to business accounts. Customers can be sure they are speaking with a legitimate business and not a phony one when they opt-in to WhatsApp-based communications with a brand. 

Because WhatsApp has built-in two-factor authentication, the company also knows that the customer is the actual deal.

WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption on all messages to give users greater security for their data and privacy. 

Even the social media platform itself cannot access or decrypt any shared content between a company and a consumer. 

And last, a brand's WhatsApp communications are GDPR compliant because customers must formally agree to communicate with it. 

This safeguards the company from breaking any laws that, if broken, could result in serious financial and reputational harm.

3. Modernizing Marketing

WhatsApp provides real options for marketers to engage with prospects, including the use of broadcast messaging in digital marketing campaigns and the Click-to-Chat and Conversation buttons that allow customers to start a chat with a business right away.

For instance, the most current non-transactional messaging feature allows marketing to contact consumers who have opted in outside of the formal support hours (previously, brands could only message customers in response to their specific queries within a 24-hour window). 

Non-transactional messages provide a crucial, potent new format to engage, amuse, and excite prospects as well as strengthen ties with current customers through targeted offers, products, services, and events—as long as the material is timely and relevant.

4. Getting Integration Right

Even the most cutting-edge CX solution runs the risk of becoming ineffective, if not redundant if it cannot fully interface with existing business processes. 

Because of this, many businesses decide to plan, carry out, and roll out their WhatsApp solution in conjunction with an official WhatsApp Business API provider.

5. For the sales and service teams, a central inbox.

Each employee has a personal account on the chosen communication platform. 

This gives access to the inbox used by the entire staff, where messages and inquiries from clients are handled and responded to.

In contrast to the app, this central inbox lets you see which messages staff members have responded to.

6. Apply to any desktop.

You may utilize WhatsApp with an unlimited number of employee accounts thanks to the API, which is another benefit. 

As a result, your support staff may access the customer messaging system and manage WhatsApp messages from any desktop PC, wherever they may be. 

The app's drawback of requiring numerous employees to share a smartphone is unnecessary.

7. Features for advanced customer messaging.

There are a variety of sales and service options available for your WhatsApp channel, depending on the messaging platform provider. 

For instance, Userlike enables:

• route for an intelligent chat. To automatically direct discussions to the most qualified agent, provide staff with certain skills and knowledge fields, such as a language or area of specialization.
• live interpretation. Talk to your clients in their language. 

You may communicate with your customers on Userlike in up to 26 different languages and provide them with international service thanks to our deep connection.

• client profiles. You can keep track of all your contacts with the aid of Userlike. Conversations are still saved in the Message Center along with notes, tags, and client information.
• Chatbots. The demand for automation grows along with the number of consumer inquiries. 

We give you access to our Logic Bot, which functions as a human employee and handles queries before directing them to an agent as needed. 

Using our chatbot API, you can integrate Userlike with any existing chatbot you may have.

The Disadvantages of WhatsApp's Business API

1. message formats

You only have 24 hours with WhatsApp to reply to client inquiries (the so-called "24-hour window").

 After this period has passed, you are required to reply to messages using a template that WhatsApp has previously approved. 

As a result, the messenger guarantees the speedy responses that users want.

In Business Manager, you may make message templates and request approval for them. You can easily manage the approval process in the Userlike dashboard and send the template to WhatsApp with only one click. 

Getting approved only takes a few hours. 

You can adapt elements like names or photos to different clients or audiences using template placeholders.

2. Cost

The WhatsApp Business API is not free, unlike the app. 

The customer messaging platform and API access are used at a monthly cost from your WhatsApp business solution partner. 

The breadth of services a supplier offers and the associated fees vary.

ChatDaddy, in contrast, provides a cost-effective and robust overall solution for businesses of all sizes starting at just 90 Euros a month.

Additionally, WhatsApp charges a tiny cost for every conversation as part of its pricing structure. However, this is only paid after the business has used up its 1,000 monthly free talks. 

Our experience demonstrates that small and medium-sized businesses can typically survive on the monthly free quota, negating the need for additional expenses.

Concluding Remarks | advantages, and disadvantages of API vs APP

The two WhatsApp versions are both excellent, but WhatsApp Business API offers specialized solutions to maximize the customer service experience. 

We sincerely hope you can make an informed decision and always make sure you choose the finest solution to utilize for your business. 

For this reason, if your business is expanding and has a large number of clients and employees, we strongly advise that you utilize the API. 

If you require additional details or if something is unclear, you can learn more about the WhatsApp Business API here.

We are confident that you will be able to select the best solution for you, keep in mind all the benefits and drawbacks of the various WhatsApp versions, consider what your business genuinely needs, and make a choice.

At ChatDaddy, we'll always be delighted to assist you in making the most of your company's potential.

FAQs | Advantages, and disadvantages of API vs APP

Q: What is WhatsApp for Business?

A: With the help of the WhatsApp Business app, businesses of all sizes may establish a formal, useful, secure, and efficient communication channel on the same WhatsApp platform. Since WhatsApp has improved the Business app, optimizing it for sales and communication with users, it can now show elements like catalogs, and company information such as an address, category, business, logo, and much more. This allows every company to enjoy their WhatsApp Business Account without having to use personal numbers.

Q: Should I  Use WhatsApp Business API?

A: The two WhatsApp versions are both very legitimate, but WhatsApp Business API offers specialized solutions to maximize the customer service experience. We always suggest you make an informed decision and be certain of the best solution to employ for your business. Because of this, we advise using the API if your company is expanding and has a large number of clients and agents.

Q: What distinguishes WhatsApp Business from WhatsApp API?

A: WhatsApp Business is designed with small businesses in mind, whereas WhatsApp Business API is developed with larger businesses in mind. WhatsApp Business API facilitates the business's global customer communication, enabling it to interact with customers everywhere.

Q: What does WhatsApp Business API stand for?

A: In comparison to the WhatsApp app, the WhatsApp Business API is considerably different. It is specifically made for big or expanding businesses. This version offers very interesting, cutting-edge, and distinctive features that are tailored for the business environment and that you won't find in the straightforward WhatsApp Business app. One of the standout features is the option to add a green checkmark to your WhatsApp profile, designating you as a trustworthy and legitimate business.

Q: What is the WhatsApp API and how can I use it?

A: To access the WhatsApp API, your business must purchase a third-party service that enables connections to the API.

Q: Can I use WhatsApp on the same phone as WhatsApp Business?

A: The WhatsApp Business app and WhatsApp Messenger can both be used at the same time as long as the accounts are connected to distinct phone numbers. One phone number cannot be simultaneously linked to two different apps.

Q: What is the operation of WhatsApp Business API?

A: Businesses can react to clients on the platform for free for the first 24 hours via the WhatsApp Business API, after which time each message will cost a certain amount. With over 3 million users currently, WhatsApp looks to have opted to increase revenue since the launching of its free business application last year.

Q: Is end-to-end encryption available for WhatsApp Business accounts?

A: Chats with businesses that make use of the WhatsApp Business app or who handle and store customer communications themselves are regarded by WhatsApp as being end-to-end encrypted. The message will be subject to the company's privacy policies after it has been received.

Q: Do you allow several numbers on WhatsApp Business?

A: The WhatsApp Business app and WhatsApp Messenger can both be used at the same time as long as the accounts are connected to distinct phone numbers. One phone number cannot be simultaneously linked to two different apps.

Q: Do APIs count as applications?

A: Application Programming Interface is referred to as API. Any software with a specific function is referred to as an application when discussing APIs. The interface can be compared to a service agreement between two programs. This agreement specifies the requests and responses that the two parties will use to communicate.

Q: What is WhatsApp Cloud API?

A: The cloud-based version of WhatsApp Business API, WhatsApp Cloud API enables companies and developers to build applications on top of WhatsApp to personalize user experiences and quickly and effectively reply to consumers. Because businesses may request Facebook's direct approval for the WhatsApp Cloud API, it is quick and simple.