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This is what the iOS contact permission prompt should be

Dale Price

For those tempted to argue about the impracticality of implementing my tongue-in-cheek mockup:

Imagine, instead of the silly alert message, a simple toggle in privacy settings “allow others who have me in their contacts to share my information with apps”

If it’s switched on, it flips a bit on a server that the other person’s OS can check, just like how it checks if you’ve set up iMessage etc.

The point wasn’t the UI, it’s that other people’s info shouldn’t be yours to give out to apps

There might even be another solution here that doesn’t require any UI at all: by default, let apps access only the contacts where:

1. both people have each other in their contacts,
2. both have the app installed, and
3. each already agreed to share their OWN info with that app.

Would prevent apps from spamming invites to people who don’t have the app, or getting the info of people who never consented to the app having it. Legitimate communication apps wouldn’t need to ask for contacts anymore.