Indian counterpart of WhatsApp, Arattai coming soon

When New Year greetings messages started crowding messaging app WhatsApp, came the chat app’s privacy policy‘update that spoiled the moods of millions because there would be no longer privacy and Facebook would have access to whatever they did on WhatsApp. This alarmed users who later began migrating to other apps like Telegram and Signal.

Even as the debate was hotting up as to which of the two apps was a better option, along came an Indian software company Zoho’s surprise new offering Arattai (meaning chat in Tamil).

Though a formal launch is yet to take place, Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu’s tweet about it was enough to have lakhs of people downloading the app.

Has Arattai the potential to take on biggies like WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal?

The early users seem happy. K Srinivasamurthy, a Chennai-based publisher, said he learnt about Arattai from Vembu’s tweet. “I went to the Zoho site and checked it out. And learnt that the server was in Chennai itself. So I thought why not make the switch,” he says.

Arattai has all the basic bells and whistles of WhatsApp including groups, calls, group calls and video chats. Unlike Telegram, which has a slightly different user interface, the UI of Arattai is similar to WhatsApp which may make it easy for Whatsapp users to switch on to it.

One important plus point of Arattai is that the users’ phone numbers are hidden to other users in groups unlike in WhatsApp where it is publicly visible and, therefore a security risk. Another advantage when compared to WhatsApp is that Arattai can accommodate more users in a group, 500 now, but may soon it may go to 1,000.

Interestingly, Arattai has not been formally launched. Apparently, it has been in the works for around a year, and was released to the Zoho staff in case they wanted an alternative to WhatsApp. But somehow, the news leaked.

In a tweet, Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu said that Arattai plans to launch desktop versions and a web app too. “They will function independently and will not require the app to be switched on and connected to the net on the phone,” added Singh.

He said some of the features that would be introduced during the launch in Q2 2021 were stories, sticker packs, a digital locker to store documents, live location sharing, cloud storage, games and scheduled messages.

The other homegrown app – Hike, promoted by Kavin Mittal and backed by Tencent and Foxconn among others is shutting down according to a tweet by its founder. And Patanjali’s much-hyped Khimbo is nowhere to be seen.