Zoho's Arattai tops App Store's social networking category, surpassing WhatsApp
What's the story
Arattai, a homegrown messaging platform developed by Zoho Corporation, has taken the top spot in the Social Networking category on the App Store in India, dethroning WhatsApp, Telegram, and Threads. The milestone comes amid an unprecedented surge in new users and growing demand for indigenous digital solutions. The company announced its achievement on its official X account, thanking users for their support during this extraordinary growth period.
User growth
100-fold increase in daily sign-ups
The user base of Arattai has witnessed an astronomical increase, with daily sign-ups shooting up from 3,000 to a whopping 350,000 in just three days. The surge is a staggering 100-fold increase. The app was launched in January 2021 as a secure Indian alternative for messaging and communication, amid concerns over WhatsApp's privacy policy changes.
Endorsements
Ministerial endorsement and AI CEO support
Arattai's rapid growth has been fueled by high-profile endorsements, including one from Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. He recently urged citizens to switch to Arattai, calling it "free, easy-to-use, secure, safe, and made in India." Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas also lauded Zoho for the app's impressive momentum as a strong Indian competitor to global players like WhatsApp.
Infrastructure expansion
Infrastructure scaling for potential surge
In light of the explosive growth, Zoho's co-founder and Chief Scientist, Sridhar Vembu, has confirmed that they are rapidly scaling up their infrastructure. "We are adding infrastructure on an emergency basis for another potential 100x peak surge. That is how exponentials work," he said on X. He also revealed that this user surge came months ahead of their planned November marketing campaign and feature rollout.
App capabilities
What is Arattai?
Arattai, which means "chat" in Tamil, is a cross-platform instant messaging app that lets users send text/voice messages, make audio/video calls, share media files/documents, post stories, and create group chats. The platform promises a secure and user-friendly interface for all these activities. It also supports use across multiple devices, including smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers, with automatic syncing of messages/contacts/settings across devices for a seamless experience.
Security concerns
Text messages not end-to-end encrypted yet
Despite its growing popularity, Arattai still lacks some advanced privacy features that are standard in apps like WhatsApp. While Arattai offers end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls, its text messages aren't encrypted to the same standard yet. This is a major difference from WhatsApp, which offers full end-to-end encryption for all communications. The company has acknowledged this limitation and said that "end-to-end encryption for chats is under development and coming soon."