I have not checked on iOS but I guess the app has the same behavior there since the 2 platforms privacy models are now pretty similar : At each startup (and a

I have not checked on iOS but I guess the app has the same behavior there since the 2 platforms privacy models are now pretty similar : At each startup (and also maybe at each screen display, I have not checked that far) the app checks its permissions. It first displays a full screen splash (already a big nono for a messaging app, these must load quickly) during that time. If it misses either contacts or localization it will ask for these. Since it checks each time, even if you accept at first and revoke afterward, it will still ask again the next time you use the app (and revoking permissions understandably restarts the app). Of course you can refuse them permanently but then the app will be stuck on that screen with a popup asking you to activate these permissions. So far, it is the only messaging app I have seen with such an aggressive approach to critical permissions. It can also be argued that the app does not need any of these to offer its core feature.