It's way less patronizing than the policies of the App Store.
If it was sufficiently patronizing, users would be offended and WhatsApp would not be popular. Therefore it cannot be as patronizing as you claim.
so if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear it.. it didn't make a sound? ;)
That sounds logical in theory but in practice users may use a tool and still loathe it. Their choice to use WhatsApp is partially dependent on their contacts’ choice to use it.