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Scanning the website, it looks like it depends on you having populated the user's Facebook, Instagram & Twitter profiles in order to use those services. If you

Scanning the website, it looks like it depends on you having populated the user's Facebook, Instagram & Twitter profiles in order to use those services. If you have an email address, it'll use Gravitar, and if you have none of the above, I guess it does nothing? Given that Facebook already takes a full copy of all of my contacts (I use WhatsApp) I'd really rather not spend the effort curating a more detailed database linking phone numbers, email addresses and real names to various social media profiles, for the benefit of Facebook. I realise this app, and Casey, are not responsible for the actions of other apps on my phone, but second order effects should be a real concern for any app that claims to be privacy focused. I realise that's probably secondary to the claim that it's supposedly privacy focused, and relying on your contacts not being privacy focused in order to be effective. All that said, and I apologise for raining on the otherwise sunny parade, this looks like a beautifully executed app, and I will be purchasing it shortly, mostly because I have enjoyed listening to Casey on ATP.

icebraining 7y ago
I don't know about iOS, but on Android, you can use Whatsapp without giving it access to Contacts. It'll refuse to show the user's name, despite having it (they show in the group conversations), showing the phone number instead, but it works fine.
- oarsinsync 7y ago
  This is true, but it significantly reduces usability. Which feels like a hilarious step to take in order to be able to use this app. Give up peoples names in a major IM application, in order to be able to have publicly available pictures automatically imported into my address book. For me, that's not a net positive. YMMV.
dwheeler 7y ago
> Given that Facebook already takes a full copy of all of my contacts (I use WhatsApp) I recommend using web apps, not native apps, for things like Facebook. Your browser will not hand over your contacts list to the world, so preferring your browser is often a good move. Won't work for everyone, but it works for me. You can also choose apps from orgs that care more about privacy. Signal works just fine instead of Whatsapp.
- oarsinsync 7y ago
  > You can also choose apps from orgs that care more about privacy. Signal works just fine instead of Whatsapp. Network effects means that despite me being on iMessage and Signal, almost all my comms arrive on Whatsapp. I could remove myself from Whatsapp, but already abstaining from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn means my choices realistically are to either use IM platform as a selection criteria for my friends (which I've already done to a degree, and lost a lot of casual friends by not being on any of the above), or accept that there's no suitable alternative and give in to this particular beast.

icebraining 7y ago

I don't know about iOS, but on Android, you can use Whatsapp without giving it access to Contacts. It'll refuse to show the user's name, despite having it (they show in the group conversations), showing the phone number instead, but it works fine.

oarsinsync 7y ago
This is true, but it significantly reduces usability. Which feels like a hilarious step to take in order to be able to use this app. Give up peoples names in a major IM application, in order to be able to have publicly available pictures automatically imported into my address book. For me, that's not a net positive. YMMV.

dwheeler 7y ago

> Given that Facebook already takes a full copy of all of my contacts (I use WhatsApp) I recommend using web apps, not native apps, for things like Facebook. Your browser will not hand over your contacts list to the world, so preferring your browser is often a good move. Won't work for everyone, but it works for me. You can also choose apps from orgs that care more about privacy. Signal works just fine instead of Whatsapp.

oarsinsync 7y ago
> You can also choose apps from orgs that care more about privacy. Signal works just fine instead of Whatsapp. Network effects means that despite me being on iMessage and Signal, almost all my comms arrive on Whatsapp. I could remove myself from Whatsapp, but already abstaining from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn means my choices realistically are to either use IM platform as a selection criteria for my friends (which I've already done to a degree, and lost a lot of casual friends by not being on any of the above), or accept that there's no suitable alternative and give in to this particular beast.