For example, I don't want any person who I interact with once or twice a month to have access to my WhatsApp or any other social media app. But I can't do this in Android because once you add contact every damn app has access to that contact list. It's full access or no access if app uses permissions. I need something where I can label contacts to not appear in main contact list.
In Android you have two ways of accessing most things: full access or use the system to access one entry.
You should blame WhatsApp for not supporting the second method.
The first method is good to have for apps you trust, and requires permission from the user.
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/permissions/overv...
The second method is what you want with apps you don't yet fully trust or for some other reason don't want to give direct access to your contacts.
https://developer.android.com/training/permissions/evaluatin...
All incentives suggest the developer should prevent using the app without full permissions being given (basically force the user into giving permission) and only implement the first method.
Sure it can be abused, but there are also legit use cases
As Android developers, we should only be given one pipe to consume from. The system should then present the user with the ability to choose if that pipe for this particular application is going to be:
"All contacts" / "A subset of contacts" / "No contacts
And even better yet just "A subset of the values for a subset of contacts"
Why they didn't do this by default is anyone's guess. Maybe they like app devs more than users. More technology should lie on users' behalf.