WhatsApp will progressively kill features until users accept new privacy policy
Their tactic of degrading ux when you don't give them permissions has been happening for a long time.Accounts in WhatsApp have a username, but if you don't enable contact permissions on your phone, they will only display the contact phone number in the conversation list view. The username is there if you click into their profile from the chat, but WhatsApp wants to punish me instead.