India's domestic messaging app Arattai has quickly moved past well-known global competitors and now holds the number one position in app store rankings. This achievement is a major milestone that shows how popular it's becoming and the challenges that come with being in the spotlight.

Why the Sudden Surge?

Arattai, launched in 2021 by Zoho, was once seen as a small or experimental project. However, with growing worries about data privacy, global monitoring, and the idea of national control over technology, Arattai's image as a "spyware-free, made-in-India" messaging app has resonated with many people. The app's popularity increased when India's Union Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, encouraged people to use local digital services, including Arattai. Also, well-known tech figures like Vivek Wadhwa tried the app and praised its smooth user experience, even calling it "India's WhatsApp killer."

Features, Ambitions, and Privacy Focus

Arattai offers familiar features like one-on-one and group chats, voice notes, media sharing, voice/video calls, stories, and channel broadcasting.
It's also available on multiple devices, including desktop and Android TV. What makes Arattai stand out to many users is its promise not to use personal data for profit and its strong focus on privacy. While many global platforms face criticism over how they handle user data, Zoho claims that Arattai will be guided by user privacy principles. 

However, some security features are still in development. End-to-end encryption is available for calls, but not yet for chats. Zoho says they're working on adding full encryption for chats.

Growing Pains: Can Infrastructure Keep Up?

With its fast rise in popularity, Arattai has started facing common issues faced by rapidly growing apps. Zoho has admitted to problems like delayed OTPs, slower contact syncing, and occasional lags during sign-ups, all due to the high volume of users. The company says it is "working hard to expand servers" and hopes to fix these problems within a few days.

Can Arattai Dislodge WhatsApp?

While taking the top spot in app charts is impressive, keeping that position will be even tougher. WhatsApp is deeply embedded in India's digital lifestyle, used for both personal and business communication, and has over 500 million users in the country. Arattai's main challenge is turning downloads into regular use, earning trust over time, and closing the feature gap, especially in encryption for chats.

If Zoho can scale reliably and follow through on its privacy promises, Arattai might maintain its place in the digital ecosystem. Otherwise, its chart success may just be a brief wave of interest.

For now, Zoho is enjoying its moment in the spotlight, but the real test is yet to come: can it keep up, deliver on its promises, and survive beyond the initial wave of interest?