Zoho’s Homegrown App Arattai Crosses 3.5 Lakh Downloads – Here’s How It’s Taking on WhatsApp
In a growing wave of support for ‘Made in India’ technology, Chennai-based Zoho Corporation is seeing remarkable success with its messaging platform Arattai, positioned as a homegrown alternative to WhatsApp.
Originally launched in 2021, Arattai (Tamil for “chat”) has gained tremendous traction recently, amassing 3.5 lakh downloads and over seven million installs in just seven days. The surge comes ahead of a major update scheduled for release soon.
Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu announced the progress on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “We have done some speed improvements to the Arattai app. Please update from the Play Store. We are also scaling the infrastructure rapidly, and yesterday added over two million new users.” Vembu noted that user numbers jumped from 3,000 to 3,50,000 in only three days.
Backed by Top Ministers and Government Push
Arattai’s rise is being boosted by strong endorsements from government leaders and ministries. Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently announced that he has switched to Zoho Mail, while IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw praised Zoho Suite as a capable Indian alternative to Microsoft Office.
The Ministry of Education has also embraced Zoho products, and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan urged citizens to “switch to India-made apps for staying connected,” sharing Arattai’s download link on X.
Upping the Game on Privacy and Features
Responding to the growing user base, Vembu revealed that Zoho is enhancing Arattai’s privacy features and expanding its capabilities.
“Zoho Cliq, from which Arattai evolved, relies on cloud storage for business features like search, archiving, and integrations,” Vembu explained. “We are turning off cloud storage in Arattai to enable end-to-end encrypted chats currently in testing.”
At present, Arattai offers end-to-end encryption only for calls, but the new update will extend that to messages as well.
Functionally, Arattai mirrors many WhatsApp features such as ‘Pocket’, which allows users to save and share files with themselves, similar to WhatsApp’s “Message Yourself” feature. It also includes a Meetings option that supports group calls, comparable to Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams.
The AI Angle
While WhatsApp has begun integrating AI chatbots, Arattai’s interface remains minimalistic. Zoho’s in-house AI assistant, Zia, powers its business applications but is not yet fully integrated into Arattai.
“With Zia, we have already built strong AI capabilities within our business apps,” said Vembu. “We’ll bring in whatever is contextual and useful for Arattai users.”
Vembu emphasized that data privacy will remain a top priority. “Zia operates entirely within Zoho’s private cloud infrastructure, ensuring that user data remains secure and is not used for external model training,” he added.
As India’s push for digital self-reliance gains momentum, Zoho’s Arattai stands as a symbol of innovation, security, and homegrown excellence poised to become a formidable challenger in the messaging app ecosystem.
Read more news like this on: PrecedenceResearch.com
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