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>In iOS you can share a subset of your contacts. the problem is, the app must respect that. WhatsApp, for all the hate it gets, does. "Privacy" focused Teleg

>In iOS you can share a subset of your contacts. the problem is, the app must respect that. WhatsApp, for all the hate it gets, does. "Privacy" focused Telegram doesnt-- it wouldnt work unless I shared ALL my contacts-- when I shared a few, it kept complaining I had to share ALL

blacklion 1y ago
Is it something specific to iOS Telegram client? On Android Telegram works with denied access to the contacts and maintains its own, completely separate, contact list (shared with desktop Telegram and other copies logged in to same account). I'm using Telegram longer than I'm using smartphone and it has completely separate contact list (as it should be). And WhatsApp cannot be used without access to contacts: it doesn't allow to create WatsApp-only contact and complains that it has no place to store it till you grant access to Phone contact list. To be honest, I prefer to have separate contact lists on all my communication channel, and even sharing contacts between phone app and e-mail app (GMail) bothers me. Telegram is good in this aspect, it can use its own contact list, not synchronized or shared with anything else, and WhatsApp is not.
- HnUser12 1y ago
  Looks to me like it was a bug. Not giving access to any contacts broke the app completely but limited access works fine except for an annoying persistent in app notification.
- kayodelycaon 1y ago
  I’ve never allowed Telegram on iOS to access my contacts, camera, or microphone and it’s worked just fine.
nothrabannosir 1y ago
iOS generally solves this through App Store submission reviews so I’m surprised this isn’t a rule and that telegram got away with it. “Apps must not gate functionality behind receiving access to all contacts vs a subset” or something. They definitely do so for location access, for example.
pabs3 1y ago
How does Telegram know that the subset you gave access to isn't ALL the contacts? Seems like iOS should not leak that bit of info to the app.

blacklion 1y ago

Is it something specific to iOS Telegram client? On Android Telegram works with denied access to the contacts and maintains its own, completely separate, contact list (shared with desktop Telegram and other copies logged in to same account). I'm using Telegram longer than I'm using smartphone and it has completely separate contact list (as it should be). And WhatsApp cannot be used without access to contacts: it doesn't allow to create WatsApp-only contact and complains that it has no place to store it till you grant access to Phone contact list. To be honest, I prefer to have separate contact lists on all my communication channel, and even sharing contacts between phone app and e-mail app (GMail) bothers me. Telegram is good in this aspect, it can use its own contact list, not synchronized or shared with anything else, and WhatsApp is not.

HnUser12 1y ago
Looks to me like it was a bug. Not giving access to any contacts broke the app completely but limited access works fine except for an annoying persistent in app notification.
kayodelycaon 1y ago
I’ve never allowed Telegram on iOS to access my contacts, camera, or microphone and it’s worked just fine.

nothrabannosir 1y ago

iOS generally solves this through App Store submission reviews so I’m surprised this isn’t a rule and that telegram got away with it. “Apps must not gate functionality behind receiving access to all contacts vs a subset” or something. They definitely do so for location access, for example.

pabs3 1y ago

How does Telegram know that the subset you gave access to isn't ALL the contacts? Seems like iOS should not leak that bit of info to the app.