iOS - WhatsApp Business - Contacts

[NightyMUC]

Hello Community,

Managed iPhones with WhatsApp Business cannot access the iPhone's contacts.
When contacts are created in Whats App, after clicking on "Done", a page is displayed that looks like a contact page with all the data. However, this cannot be confirmed anywhere, only terminated with "Cancel".
I have already checked the restrictions several times, but can't find anything.
Does anyone have any ideas?

Cheers

NightyMUC

[alemabrahao]

I once saw a thread where they were having issues sharing contacts and photos after the Meraki MDM profile was installed. The issue was resolved by uploading a profile to the phone without active sync settings and manually setting up active sync.
It sounds like your issue may be related to the way contacts are being synced or social media is being blocked on your devices. I suggest you check your settings related to your firewall. I also recommend contacting Meraki support.

[ConnorL]

Is WhatsApp a managed app? (i.e. pushed via MDM)? If so, you probably need to disable containerisation.

You can do this by adding the Restrictions payload and unticking "Do not containerize work data and contacts from unmanaged apps" and "Do not containerize personal data and contacts from managed apps".

If you're still facing issues and have an ActiveSync payload, make sure you untick "Use only in Mail".

[NightyMUC]

Thank you very much ConnerL,

you have put me on the right path.

At first, I activated "Do not containerize work data and contacts from unmanaged apps" and "Do not containerize personal data and contacts from managed apps", but nothing changed.

Than I went into the Apps and unticked "Visible in SSP" and boom--> it worked

[ConnorL]

Huh, SSP is just the Self Service Portal - this tool allows users to install/push apps to their device(s) via a website. It might've just been a timing coincidence that this worked as it should not impact the device-specific permissions. 

Nevertheless, glad you got the issue resolved 🙂 

[PhilipDAth]

This is deliberate containerization.  It prevents "personal" apps and data from accessing "work" apps and data, and vice versa.