Zoho’s Arattai app goes viral with 100X increase in downloads

Arattai, the instant messaging app from Zoho, saw a 100X increase in downloads over the last three days, with users praising the platform.

The app, which had an average download of 3,000 per day, saw 350,000 daily sign-ups in what Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu referred to as an example of patient engineering. The app was first launched in 2021.

Arattai, which in Tamil means to chit-chat, can be used to send texts, voice notes, audio/video calls, share photos and documents. It is available in 16 languages, including Russian, Turkish, Vietnamese, and Japanese.

The app has similarities with other popular chat apps such as WhatsApp and Signal and could prove to be a competitor, given its made in India tag.

Union Ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Dharmendra Pradhan have already endorsed the app.

Pradhan posted on X that the chat app is an example of a Made in India product, which is free, easy-to-use, secure, and safe.

Perplexity Co-founder Aravind Srinivas praised the app on X, "Congrats to Zoho on a very successful launch," he said.

While most users praised the app's functionality, some pointed out that certain features, such as translations and video uploads, could be improved.

Zoho's Vembu highlighted how the team took time to build this app as it had to work on low-end phones and low-bandwidth networks. Most importantly, all measures have been put in place to ensure the privacy as well as the security of users.

Given the sharp increase in downloads, Vembu said the company is forced to add more infrastructure to cater to the demand.

He added that Zoho has some ongoing ambitious, long-range R&D projects in areas such as compilers, databases, OS, security, hardware, chip design, and robotics.

“We are committed to offering the best messaging experience in the world. Stay tuned for more!,” Vembu remarked.