Zoho's Arattai messaging app has experienced a massive surge in traffic, with a 100x increase in the last three days. This surge has led to a significant increase in new sign-ups, jumping from 3,000 to 350,000 per day. Sridhar Vembu, Zoho's Co-founder and Chief Scientist, announced that the company is urgently adding infrastructure to handle a potential further 100x peak surge.
The increase in Arattai's popularity comes amid growing support for homegrown applications under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan endorsed Arattai as a "free, easy-to-use, secure, and safe" platform, encouraging citizens to adopt it. IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also switched to Zoho's office suite, using Zoho Show in a Union Cabinet presentation.
Arattai, launched in 2021, was initially seen as an experiment and struggled to gain traction. However, with increasing concerns about data privacy, its "spyware-free, made-in-India" promise has resonated with users. Vembu stated that the app was built for low-end phones and areas with poor connectivity, tested at just 8 kilobits per second to ensure accessibility in rural regions.
The app offers features similar to WhatsApp, including text and voice messaging, video calls, media sharing, stories, broadcast channels, and group chats with up to 1,000 members. However, unlike WhatsApp, Arattai currently only offers end-to-end encryption for calls, with chat encryption under development.
The sudden surge in traffic has presented some challenges, with users experiencing OTP delays, slower contact sync, and call issues due to the unexpected load on Zoho's servers. The company has acknowledged these issues and is working to expand its infrastructure to restore normal service. Zoho is also fine-tuning and updating Arattai's code to fix issues and preparing for a larger release in November.
Despite these challenges, the surge in popularity is a significant boost for Zoho and its Arattai app. Vembu hailed the endorsements from government officials as a "huge morale boost" for Zoho engineers. The app has climbed to the number one spot on Apple's App Store in India in the social media category. While WhatsApp still dominates the Indian market with over 500 million users, Arattai's focus on privacy and its "made-in-India" identity may position it as a viable alternative for users seeking greater control over their data.
