For example,
1. Export contacts from the Contact app to a file if it is not a new phone
2. Disable Contacts app
3. Install a different contact database such as OpenContacts from F-Droid or Github
4. Import contacts from the file into OpenContacts
WhatsApp will not import the contacts in the OpenContacts database
Further, no other app will import these contacts either
This solves the "access to contacts" issue
For example,
1. Export contacts from the Contact app to a file if it is not a new phone
2. Disable Contacts app
3. Install a different contact database such as OpenContacts from F-Droid or Github
4. Import contacts from the file into OpenContacts
WhatsApp will not import the contacts in the OpenContacts database
Further, no other app will import these contacts either
This solves the "access to contacts" issue