Zoho’s Arattai messenger tops Indian app charts, challenges WhatsApp’s dominance

Arattai, a messaging app developed by Zoho, which literally translates to chit-chat in Tamil, has recently climbed to the number one spot in the Social Networking category on India’s App Store.

 The surge follows a reported 100-fold increase in daily sign-ups, which jumped from approximately 3,000 to over 350,000 in three days. This dramatic rise is a perfect example of growing interest in domestic digital platforms within India. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also encouraged citizens to adopt Arattai, positioning it as an India-made alternative to international messaging platforms.

We have faced a 100x increase in Arattai traffic in 3 days (new sign-ups went vertical from 3K/day to 350K/day). We are adding infrastructure on an emergency basis for another potential 100x peak surge. That is how exponentials work.

As we add a lot more infrastructure, we are…

— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) September 28, 2025

Features and market position

Zoho first soft-launched Arattai in January 2021, coinciding with a period of user scrutiny regarding WhatsApp’s updated privacy policies. The app offers standard features to modern messengers, including:

• One-to-one and group chats, text and voice notes, media sharing, and audio/video calls.
• Arattai currently offers end-to-end encryption for audio and video calls, with the company stating it is working to implement this feature for text messages.
• Multi-device support, including desktop and even Android TV apps, along with features for stories and channels for broadcasting updates.

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has confirmed the app is engineered to run smoothly on lower-end smartphones and in low-bandwidth environments, addressing a key need in many emerging markets across India.

The challenge of network effects

While Arattai has achieved a significant milestone in topping the download charts, it's still an unfolding story, and sustaining this momentum against WhatsApp presents a massive challenge. WhatsApp boasts a deep penetration into the daily lives of over 500 million users in India, a figure that provides a powerful network effect. The sheer number of existing WhatsApp users, who rely on it for everything from personal communication to commerce, gives the Meta-owned application a commanding lead.

For Arattai to become a true long-term rival, it must convert downloads into sustained, daily active use. Addressing key feature gaps, particularly the current lack of end-to-end encryption for all text messages, will remain a necessary step to attract and retain privacy-conscious users.