by Zoho Corporation
Arattai - Chat and Calling app
Arattai is a free instant messaging app built by Zoho Corporation out of Chennai, India — confirmed directly on Zoho's own "About Arattai" page, which states plainly: "Arattai was developed by Zoho Corporation." The app was soft-launched years earlier but broke out in September 2025, when a promotional push (including endorsements from Indian government officials and business leaders as part of the broader "Make in India" push) sent daily sign-ups from around 3,000 to over 350,000 within days, per widely reported figures at the time. Google Play's own install badge for the app, checked directly on 18 August 2026, shows 10M+ downloads — the earlier "17M+" figure that traces only to press aggregation around October 2025 could not be independently confirmed and has been dropped from this page. The name "Arattai" means "casual talk" or "chit-chat" in Tamil, reflecting its Indian roots. It positions itself as a privacy-first, Made-in-India alternative to WhatsApp and Telegram. Arattai offers text messaging, voice notes, voice and video calls, photo/document/media sharing, and Stories — covering the core feature set most users need from a messaging app. Its standout features include WhatsApp chat migration (import your existing chats, group by group), completely ad-free experience, no AI integration or data tracking, and data stored on Indian servers. The app supports group chats of up to 1,000 active participants and has a clean, minimal interface that's easy for first-time smartphone users to navigate. On its Google Play listing, the app is published under the name "Arattai Messenger" by "Arattai Technology Solutions" — a Zoho-affiliated storefront entity, not a separate company. The app is entirely free with no paid tiers, no in-app purchases, and no advertising — Zoho funds it as part of its broader mission to build Indian-made software. There's no premium plan because there are no features locked behind paywalls. This makes it one of the rare messaging apps with zero monetisation pressure on users. Arattai is best suited for privacy-conscious Indian users who want a local alternative to WhatsApp without ads or data harvesting. Early adopters and Zoho ecosystem fans will find it appealing. However, the app's biggest challenge is network effect — most contacts are still on WhatsApp, and features like polls, payments, disappearing messages, and chat lock are still missing. Users looking for a feature-complete WhatsApp replacement may find it too basic, but for simple, secure communication it delivers well.
Information updated 1 years ago
Zoho Corporation
4.5/5 on Google Play Store JSON-LD aggregateRating 4.4968 (displays as 4.5) from 231,971 ratings, 10M+ downloads, package com.aratai.chat, publisher "Arattai Technology Solutions" — checked 18 Aug 2026. · Last verified 2026-08-18
Yes — Zoho's own "About Arattai" page states directly: "Arattai was developed by Zoho Corporation," and its Play Store publisher account ("Arattai Technology Solutions") is a Zoho-affiliated storefront entity, not a third party. Zoho's own FAQ says direct chats and calls are end-to-end encrypted, and points to a published security whitepaper for detail. Zoho is a 30-year-old, profitable, privately held Indian software company, which is a different trust profile from a venture-funded startup — but note that the encryption claim is Zoho's own statement, not an outcome of an independent third-party security audit that we could locate.
Google Play's own install badge for Arattai (package com.aratai.chat), checked directly on 18 August 2026, shows 10M+ downloads and an aggregate rating of 4.5 from 231,971 ratings. Widely-repeated figures like "17M+ downloads" trace only to press aggregation from around October 2025 and cannot be confirmed against any Zoho statement, so we don't cite them. Zoho itself has described the September 2025 surge in terms of daily sign-ups — reportedly rising from about 3,000 to over 350,000 a day within a week — rather than publishing a cumulative download total.
For direct one-to-one chats and calls, yes — Zoho's own FAQ states: "Direct chats and calls are encrypted end-to-end," and a separate answer says every message, call, and file sent is end-to-end encrypted and readable only by the two people talking, linking to a published security whitepaper. What Zoho's FAQ does not explicitly restate for group chats is that same end-to-end guarantee, so if you need encryption specifically for group conversations, that isn't documented with the same clarity as it is for 1:1 chats.
Only group chats, and only one at a time. Zoho's own FAQ is specific: "Group chats can be exported from WhatsApp and imported into Arattai. Each group chat must be imported individually," with a linked help document for the steps. There's no bulk-import option, and Zoho's FAQ doesn't mention a path for migrating individual 1:1 WhatsApp conversations — only group chats are covered.
Zoho's own FAQ answers this directly: "Does Arattai show ads? No. Arattai is a privacy-first messenger and does not show ads or sell your data," and separately confirms the app itself is free. There's no published roadmap suggesting that will change, and Zoho funds Arattai as part of its broader profitable software business rather than needing the app itself to generate revenue — though as with any company statement about future plans, this describes current policy, not a binding guarantee.
This is one of the most consistently reported user complaints in app store reviews — many users say the app shows no contacts, or an incomplete list, despite granting contacts permission. Zoho has not published a specific explanation or fix timeline for this in its own FAQ or help documentation, so it appears to be an ongoing, unresolved issue rather than one Zoho has publicly acknowledged and patched. If you hit this, re-checking contacts permission in your phone's app settings and force-restarting the app are the most commonly reported workarounds in reviews, though neither is officially confirmed by Zoho as a fix.
The core pitch is data location and ad-free-by-policy: Arattai stores data on Indian servers and, per Zoho's own FAQ, shows no ads and does not sell data. Feature-wise it covers the basics most users need — text, voice notes, calls, groups (up to 1,000 active participants per group, per Zoho's FAQ), Stories, and channels — but is missing things WhatsApp and Telegram both have, such as polls, payments, disappearing messages, and chat lock. The practical limiter is network effect: most of India is still on WhatsApp, so Arattai's usefulness depends heavily on how many of your own contacts have switched, which Zoho does not control and can't be solved by product features alone.
Hand-picked videos to help you get started — tutorials, demos, and reviews.
How to Use Arattai App — Complete Guide
Arattai App Kaise Use Kare | Arattai App Me Chat Kaise Kare | How To Use Arattai Messenger App
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