Arattai Messenger, a messaging application developed in India, has witnessed an unprecedented surge in popularity, experiencing a remarkable 100-fold increase in user traffic within a span of three days. Daily sign-ups have skyrocketed from 3,000 to 350,000. This surge has propelled Arattai to the top of the app store charts, establishing it as a formidable challenger to WhatsApp. Zoho’s co-founder, Sridhar Vembu, confirmed the app’s accelerated growth on X. Vembu stated the company is actively adding more infrastructure to accommodate the rapid expansion and any potential peak surges. The team is also actively working on refining the code to improve user experience. A major update was originally slated for November, including various new features and a marketing push. However, the sudden boom has accelerated these plans. Arattai is a messaging app designed to compete with WhatsApp. The app offers features such as text messaging, sharing of media, voice notes, and group chats. Developed by Zoho Corporation in 2021, Arattai is now gaining mainstream recognition. Its appeal lies in its focus on privacy and commitment not to monetize user data. Arattai offers features similar to WhatsApp, including text, media, and file sharing, encrypted audio and video calling, multi-device support, and Android TV integration. A core differentiator is Zoho’s commitment to user data privacy. The surge in Arattai’s popularity followed the appeal by the Union Education Minister to embrace indigenous digital solutions, leading to increased social media discussion and users labeling it as a ‘WhatsApp Killer’. The rapid growth has put strain on the server capacity. The company’s focus is on server stabilization. While Arattai provides encrypted calls, it does not offer end-to-end encryption for chats yet. Arattai faces the challenge of competing with WhatsApp, which has a massive user base in India.
