An ability to give untrustworthy software an access to a sandboxed blank copy of Contacts would've been very useful.
As a side note, Telegram is the same as WhatsApp. You can't start a chat on a fresh install unless you give it an access to the contacts. There's no way to manually add in-app contacts. Given how "pro-privacy" they are supposed to be, this was rather disconcerting to see.