WhatsApp Business API or QR login: which should a CA firm use?
Docflo Team · 25 October 2026
Clients already send documents on WhatsApp, so collecting them there is the obvious choice. There are two ways for software to use your firm's WhatsApp number, and the difference matters.
The official WhatsApp Business API
This is Meta's approved platform for businesses.
- Setup: a Meta Business account, a verified phone number on the WhatsApp Business Platform, and a permanent access token. Allow 20–30 minutes, plus business verification for higher limits.
- Messages: within 24 hours of a client's last message you can reply freely. Outside that window, only pre-approved message templates can be sent — for example a document request or a reminder.
- Cost: Meta charges per conversation for business-initiated messages. Utility conversations in India are inexpensive, but they are not free.
- Risk: none from normal use. This is the intended way to automate.
The one practical catch: the number used for the API cannot also be used in the regular WhatsApp app on a phone. Many firms use a second number for this.
QR login (linked device)
This works like WhatsApp Web: you scan a QR code with your phone and the software acts as a linked device.
- Setup: two minutes. You keep using the same number and the same phone.
- Messages: no templates, no 24-hour rule.
- Cost: no per-message charges.
- Risk: it is not an official API. WhatsApp may restrict numbers that send a lot of messages quickly, especially to people who have not saved the number.
Which to choose
| Official API | QR login | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup time | 20–30 minutes | 2 minutes |
| Volume | Any | Keep it modest |
| Message rules | Templates outside 24 hours | None |
| Risk to number | None | Possible restriction if overused |
| Best for | 300+ clients, or any firm that wants zero risk | Smaller firms getting started |
If you start with QR login, keep sending speed low, message only existing clients, and never use it for promotional messages. Docflo enforces these limits automatically and recommends switching to the official API once a firm passes 300 clients.
Either way, the client experience is the same: they keep sending documents to the number they already know.