Arattai vs Whatsapp: Five features making this Indian app stand out

Arattai, a homegrown messaging app developed by Chennai-based Zoho Corporation, has surged to the top spot on Indian app stores, temporarily surpassing WhatsApp. This rise comes amid a push for ‘Swadeshi’ (Made in India) digital products, supported by government ministers and appealing to users seeking local alternatives. The app’s popularity has sparked debate over whether this is a fleeting trend or the beginning of a genuine challenge to Meta’s dominance in India.

What is Arattai?

The name Arattai, which translates from Tamil as “casual chat,” reflects the app’s purpose. It is designed for both personal and business communication, offering familiar features such as one-on-one and group chats, voice and video calls with end-to-end encryption, media sharing, Instagram-style ‘Stories’ and broadcast ‘Channels,’ and multi-device support on mobile, desktop, and Android TV.

Features that set Arattai apart from WhatsApp

According to Mint, Arattai offers several distinguishing features:

• Meetings: Conduct video meetings similar to Google Meet or Zoom within the app, with options to create, join, schedule, and view meetings.
  
  
• Pocket: Personal cloud storage for saving messages, media, and other content.
  
  
• Mentions: Slack-like section listing all messages where a user is mentioned.
  
  
• No ads: The app currently displays no advertisements and does not use user data for advertising. All data is stored in Indian data centers.
  
  
• No forced AI: Arattai does not currently include AI features, allowing incremental additions without imposing them on users.
  
  
• End-to-end encryption: Voice and video calls are encrypted, though regular text messages are not fully protected. WhatsApp provides encryption for both messages and calls.
  
  

Advantages and Disadvantages of Arattai

Business Today highlights several advantages and challenges for the homegrown messaging app:

Advantages

• Government backing: The ‘Swadeshi’ tag and endorsements from government ministers provide significant visibility for the app.
  
  
• Privacy promise: A no-ads, no-data-selling model positions Arattai as a compelling alternative to Meta’s ecosystem.
  
  
• Current momentum: Achieving the number one spot on app stores, even briefly, generates strong brand awareness.
  
  

Disadvantages

• Encryption gap: With end-to-end encryption not yet available for text messages, security claims may be less reassuring for privacy-conscious users.
  
  
• Network effect: Encouraging entire families, workplaces, and social circles to switch to Arattai presents a major challenge.
  
  
• Scaling and stability: Supporting millions of new users without performance issues is a significant technical hurdle.