Why are my contacts "whatsapp contacts?" and not stored on phone after I entered them that way?

A

AC Question

Why are my contacts "whatsapp contacts?" and not stored on phone after I entered them that way?

I added all my contacts manually a couple of days ago and everything was fine. I went back on to the contacts today and they had all disappeared other than a few that were randomly there in the first place. I went through the filters and allowed whatsapp contacts to be shown and they all popped up again.

Problem is, now they aren't showing in my whatsapp?! I've tried showing all contacts through there and I have rebooted, removed simcard, refreshed - everything I can find. What is this error and how can I get around it? Ideally i want the contacts saved to the phone and to show up in whatsapp, like with any other phone!!