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Is WhatsApp still requiring access to your phone's address book before it allows you to use it? It did last time I tried it. There is no chance in hell I'm givi

Is WhatsApp still requiring access to your phone's address book before it allows you to use it? It did last time I tried it. There is no chance in hell I'm giving it all the phone numbers, emails and names of people that trusted me by giving me their details. At the time I set up a virtual android environment (samsung called it knox) just to setup WhatsApp in a way it couldn't access my phone's address book. It is extremely unethical on Meta's side to continue with this requirement. So I'm dubious every te they're presented as champions of privacy protection.

lostlogin 3y ago
> There is no chance in hell I'm giving it all the phone numbers, emails and names of people that trusted me by giving me their details. The sad thing is that all their details and yours are already known to Meta. The dozen of us who behave like you will keep trying though.
gavinsyancey 3y ago
I currently have WhatsApp installed without access to my address book (on Android). It doesn't require it, but it makes it harder to use and locks out some features. Among other things, you can't start a new group / direct message, but you can participate / reply if someone else messages you first.
- bilkow 3y ago
  I use an app called "Open In WhatsApp" which lets you paste / write a phone number and it will open a conversation with that number (by using android intents). You can also share contacts from the Phone app to this App, so you don't have to copy/paste manually. https://github.com/SubhamTyagi/openinwa https://github.com/SubhamTyagi/openinwa (I recommend downloading from f-droid)
- paulmd 3y ago
  If only there were a strong, centralized app store that could perform app review and prevent applications from degrading user experience beyond the extent actually necessary without that permission. Good thing the EU just outlawed that model and forced everyone to support "third party app stores" that are thinly-veiled shells for Facebook/Google/etc to bypass that review process. the "I wanna sideload" crowd are nothing more than allies of convenience for FB and others. Facebook was already experimenting with getting users to manually sideload the full-telemetry build and now they can just say "oops not supported on safari, install the native app". https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/01/facebook-and-google-offered-gift-cards-for-root-level-access-to-ios-users-data/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/01/facebook-and-google-...
BbzzbB 3y ago
It's kinda the point of WhatsApp tho, phone features using your phone number and phone book but over the internet.
- callalex 3y ago
  The Phone app on my iPhone manages to do all of those things without uploading my contacts list/social graph to anybody else’s servers though.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
Ylpertnodi 3y ago
I recently had to install whatsapp. No asking for contacts at all. The web app (via a qr code) is ok, and i run that in a vm set up just for wa. I don't let friends and fam know i have it...I prefer keeping out of dramas, 'news', and memes. I did check that i do not appear as 'x is online' on anyone's phone (but only checked with the person i needed to wa with). The app isn't bad, tbf. It's just not for me.

lostlogin 3y ago

> There is no chance in hell I'm giving it all the phone numbers, emails and names of people that trusted me by giving me their details. The sad thing is that all their details and yours are already known to Meta. The dozen of us who behave like you will keep trying though.

gavinsyancey 3y ago

I currently have WhatsApp installed without access to my address book (on Android). It doesn't require it, but it makes it harder to use and locks out some features. Among other things, you can't start a new group / direct message, but you can participate / reply if someone else messages you first.

bilkow 3y ago
I use an app called "Open In WhatsApp" which lets you paste / write a phone number and it will open a conversation with that number (by using android intents). You can also share contacts from the Phone app to this App, so you don't have to copy/paste manually. https://github.com/SubhamTyagi/openinwa https://github.com/SubhamTyagi/openinwa (I recommend downloading from f-droid)
paulmd 3y ago
If only there were a strong, centralized app store that could perform app review and prevent applications from degrading user experience beyond the extent actually necessary without that permission. Good thing the EU just outlawed that model and forced everyone to support "third party app stores" that are thinly-veiled shells for Facebook/Google/etc to bypass that review process. the "I wanna sideload" crowd are nothing more than allies of convenience for FB and others. Facebook was already experimenting with getting users to manually sideload the full-telemetry build and now they can just say "oops not supported on safari, install the native app". https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/01/facebook-and-google-offered-gift-cards-for-root-level-access-to-ios-users-data/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/01/facebook-and-google-...

BbzzbB 3y ago

It's kinda the point of WhatsApp tho, phone features using your phone number and phone book but over the internet.

callalex 3y ago
The Phone app on my iPhone manages to do all of those things without uploading my contacts list/social graph to anybody else’s servers though.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

Ylpertnodi 3y ago

I recently had to install whatsapp. No asking for contacts at all. The web app (via a qr code) is ok, and i run that in a vm set up just for wa. I don't let friends and fam know i have it...I prefer keeping out of dramas, 'news', and memes. I did check that i do not appear as 'x is online' on anyone's phone (but only checked with the person i needed to wa with). The app isn't bad, tbf. It's just not for me.