One thing I hate is when apps do this to get information about your contacts, not only because they get who you personally know (and their phone number, email,

One thing I hate is when apps do this to get information about your contacts, not only because they get who you personally know (and their phone number, email, other info in the contact) but also contacts for businesses you regularly might interact with, meaning they can potentially create a pretty detailed web of your life. For example, it's a dark pattern when you use Messenger, at least on iOS, for the first time and it says "Upload your contacts to find friends" with an "OK" button or "Learn More" button, and only after you click "Learn More" can you ignore it. WhatsApp does something worse; you can't initialize a message with anyone without allowing contacts, and the only way to add a contact is thru the phone app (the web app definitely doesn't, and I'm pretty certain the desktop app doesn't have the functionality to add a contact). I have to go thru great pains to prevent WhatsApp from getting my contact info, just to be able to add a new friend (turn off iCloud contacts, enable WhatsApp to see my contacts, then add the contact). Maybe I am paranoid, but I really, really want Facebook to only have the information I give it, and I don't trust WhatsApp at all. At least WhatsApp encrypts the messages. I really hate this pattern in apps, and I wish there was some way to give it some kind of "blank canvas" without any real contacts in it. Thankfully apps don't lock you completely out if you don't provide contact info, yet, but I fear it may happen soon.