Prime Highlight
- Arattai, Zoho’s homegrown messaging app, has surged past WhatsApp to claim the top spot on India’s App Store charts.
- Backed by government encouragement and rising privacy concerns, Arattai’s positioning as a spyware-free Indian platform has strongly resonated with users.
Key Facts
- Arattai offers text, calls, file sharing, Stories, and channels, with end-to-end encryption for calls and upcoming encryption for chats.
- Despite its rise, the app faces infrastructure challenges, including delays in OTPs and syncing, as Zoho works to strengthen its servers.
Background
Arattai, India’s homegrown messaging app, has climbed to the top of the app store charts in India, passing WhatsApp. Zoho, the company behind Arattai, shared the news on X, calling it “#1 in Social Networking on the App Store.”
Its abrupt increase is in the context of an increasing number of worries about privacy, scandals of spyware, and a more complex attitude toward world technology infrastructure. The positioning of Arattai as a spyware-free, Indian-made messenger has made a very strong appeal to users.
Government support has added momentum. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan recently encouraged Indians to adopt local digital platforms, specifically naming Arattai. The app quickly beat competitors like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal on both iOS and Android.
Zoho is working to strengthen the app’s infrastructure to handle the surge. Early users have reported delays with OTPs, message syncing, and calls due to server load. The company said fixes may take a few days.
Arattai offers standard messaging features such as text, voice notes, file sharing, audio and video calls, along with Stories and channels. Zoho cares about user privacy and plans to add end-to-end encryption for chats soon. Currently, all calls on the platform are already protected with encryption.
WhatsApp is still the most popular messaging app in India with over 500 million users. However, more people are showing interest in local options like Arattai. Zoho is proud that Arattai has reached the top of the charts, but the company must now keep the app running smoothly and continue to earn users’ trust as its user base grows.