Arattai, a new messaging app developed by Indian company Zoho, has rapidly gained popularity, achieving over 5 million downloads within days of its October 2025 launch. It outpaced established giants like Telegram, Facebook Messenger, and Snapchat, each garnering around 2 million installs in the same period. 

Named after the Tamil word for “chit-chat,” Arattai is designed to be lightweight and optimized for users with inexpensive smartphones and unstable internet, especially in rural and semi-rural areas. Unique among competitors, it offers an Android TV version which WhatsApp lacks. 

Core features include SMS, voice and video calls, and file sharing. Though voice calls use end-to-end encryption, standard chat encryption remains limited. Zoho emphasizes local data storage without third-party sharing. Experts note that full encryption across all message types is essential for Arattai to truly compete with WhatsApp.

source: Arattai

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