Originally Posted by jsnydcsa

Back when whoever "invented" WhatsApp first came to this very forum to ask people to try it out, I commented that the WhatsApp app wanted complete access to my iphone's address book. I said that's a no-go. (I could not find my comment to that thread long ago thread). I haven't looked back and hope the inventors of WhatsApp are still enjoying their billions.

MANY family and friends use WhatsApp - in some cases on a "stand alone" basis (e.g. they are not Facebook users) or in some cases as part of the larger Facebook-ecosystem. Sorry, I'm still not joining them. I don't want me and/or my self/"stuff" floating into the FB world. Full stop.

I have Signal on my iPhone. They want access to my address book as well. Still a no. Somehow, I was able to start a chat thread with one buddy who uses Signal. But, I cannot recall whether I started the thread with that buddy by "manually" adding my number or by him starting the thread (likely by allowing Signal to access his address book which included my contact info). Since I'm not giving Signal access to my phone's address book and haven't been able to come up with a workaround to just manually enter a friends number to send them a message, Signal is not that useful to me.