Made-in-India chat app Arattai is suddenly everywhere. In just three days, its daily sign-ups jumped from 3,000 to 3.5 lakh, making it one of the fastest-growing apps in India right now.
Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu confirmed the spike in a post on X (formerly Twitter), saying traffic has grown “100X” and the team is scrambling to add new servers to handle the load. The rush comes after viral buzz on social media, government endorsements, and the app’s strong privacy-first pitch.
Many users are already calling it a “WhatsApp killer”, and it’s now topping app store charts in the social networking category.
Why Vembu wants Arattai to be different
Unlike WhatsApp, Arattai doesn’t want to be a walled garden. Vembu revealed that he’s in early talks with iSpirt’s Sharad Sharma—one of the key architects behind UPI—to make Arattai’s messaging protocols open and interoperable, just like UPI or email.
“These systems need to be interoperable like UPI and email, and not closed like WhatsApp today,” he wrote, adding: “We do not want to be a monopoly ever.”
This India-first approach is what Zoho hopes will make Arattai stand out.
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Features at a glance
Arattai packs in everything users expect:
- One-to-one and group chats
- Voice notes, file sharing, and media uploads
- Audio and video calls
- Channel broadcasts and stories
- Multi-device support, including Android TV integration
The app also promises no data monetisation, no backdoors, and strict privacy. That’s a big deal at a time when global apps are often criticised for exploiting user data.
Privacy still a work in progress
Right now, end-to-end encryption is fully available on calls, but chat encryption isn’t completely rolled out yet. Zoho says it’s actively working on it and plans to make it standard soon.
That honesty about what’s ready—and what’s not—has surprisingly earned Arattai some goodwill among early adopters.
Growing pains are real
With popularity comes problems. New users have reported delayed OTPs, contact sync issues, and lag during sign-ups. Zoho admits its servers are under heavy stress and promises fixes soon.
It’s the kind of problem any startup would love to have: too much demand, too fast.
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The bigger picture
Arattai, which means “casual chat” in Tamil, was first launched quietly in 2021. But in 2025, it’s suddenly become a household name. Its rise feels similar to the early days of UPI—local innovation that challenged global giants by putting India’s digital priorities first.
If Zoho and iSpirt succeed in building an open, UPI-style messaging framework, Arattai could truly change the way India chats online.
