New to Andriod - Duplicate contacts issues with WhatsApp and other messengers I'm new to Android and I must admit it's been frustrating setting up the contacts.  I only want local contacts stored, I don't want it to sync anything.  When I added my work email it synced 5000 contacts without asking and it was a huge hassle to get rid of them.  (Why you wouldn't be able to "select all" from a certain group and delete it the Contacts app, I have no idea). Then after I deleted all the contacts from the work email somehow sync got turned back on by itself.  

Anyways, now I deleted them again and hopefully sync won't turn back on.  But this is pretty brutal, I've spent hours on this. 

So now when I add a local contact if they're on WhatsApp, it creates another entry.  If they're on Signal, it creates yet another entry and when I search for the contact I see them 3 times.  I'm trying to understand why WhatsApp etc can't just read my contacts from my list, or if it needs to store them can't it do that internally? I don't want to see a separate list for WhatsApp contacts on my phone that just duplicates ones I added.

I know I can merge them, but I'd prefer not to as I don't want to see 10 different call options when I click on someone (Call this person with WhatApp, call them with Signal, call them with your actual phone).  I don't use messengers to call people. It also seems like you can only merge them manually every time you add someone which is kind of a pain. 

Am I missing something here or is that the only way this works? 

Thank you for reading. 

Edit: The frustrating thing is when I delete all the WhatsApp contacts it still works fine.  When I go to "New Chat" I still see everyone on there that has WhatsApp.  So why does it need to create a separate entry for every person listed there
Actualy, you cant get rid of that call via (on stock caller, pick any on market, they can help)
for avoid doubling you may show only local contacts (they will exist but become hidden). On stock  AOSP 4.4 People > menu (three dots) > Contacts to display > pick a phone contact or customise