Chennai-based Zoho’s instant messaging app, Arattai, has surged to the top of Apple’s App Store rankings in India under the social media category. Launched in 2021 as a WhatsApp rival, Arattai gained a fresh boost following endorsements from Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Pradhan encouraged citizens to adopt the “free, easy-to-use, secure, and safe” platform as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swadeshi initiative, promoting Indian-made digital products.
Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu described the ministerial backing as “a huge morale boost for our engineers who have worked hard for over two decades to build our product suite.” He added on X, “It is another example of our patient engineering approach at work. We have taken the time because we have to make it work in low-end phones, low bandwidth networks (we test down to 8 kilobits/sec), offer outstanding privacy and security, and be very easy to use, all at the same time!”
Arattai offers features similar to WhatsApp, including text messaging, voice and video calls, media sharing, group chats supporting up to 1,000 members, stories, and broadcast channels. The app is optimised for low-end phones and areas with poor connectivity, aiming to improve accessibility in rural regions.
The app was launched amid a major privacy policy update by WhatsApp in 2021, which prompted many users to switch to alternatives like Signal and Telegram. While Arattai gained hundreds of new users in just a few days, the app currently provides end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls, but not yet for text messages. Zoho has confirmed that “end-to-end encryption for chats is under development and coming soon.”
Despite its early success, Arattai faces competition from WhatsApp, which has over 500 million users in India. The app has experienced strain due to the sudden surge in users. In a recent post on X, Arattai warned, “Some of you may experience OTP delays/failures, slower contact sync, or call issues due to unexpected load on our servers. We’re expanding our infrastructure and should be back to normal in a couple of days. Thanks for your patience & support!”
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