With Zoho launching the Arattai chat app, the instant messaging arena is witnessing a lot of action lately. The homegrown Arattai chat app promises to challenge the global dominance of Meta-owned WhatsApp. Positioned as a robust Indian alternative, Arattai is aiming to steal market share by focusing on the unique needs of users in emerging markets. The rise to the number 1 spot on the Apple App Store list hints that India is willing to try a homegrown alternative to WhatsApp.
But how does Zoho’s Arattai compare to Meta’s WhatsApp? Available for more than a decade, WhatsApp has established itself as the widely accepted platform to communicate. But has it been overshadowed by Zoho’s homegrown solution? That’s what we are about to find out with a short feature-to-feature comparison.
Performance and bandwidth efficiency
One of the most compelling differentiators for Arattai is its optimisation for connectivity constraints. The app is engineered to be a lightweight communication solution, promising smooth operation on low-end smartphones and across slower, limited-bandwidth networks. This structure also promises to minimise data consumption and address the performance issues that WhatsApp can sometimes exhibit on entry-level devices or under poor network conditions.
On the other hand, WhatsApp is universally compatible across Android and iOS, and is also available on several feature phone platforms too. On midrange and premium phones, WhatsApp continues to offer the quickest way to reach out to someone, whether it’s texting or calling.
Privacy
Security is the key concern in today’s app ecosystems. WhatsApp’s reputation is built on its automatic and widely recognized end-to-end (E2E) encryption, which ensures that messages, calls, and shared media are completely private between the communicating parties. Neither the government nor WhatsApp can access private chats between two individuals.
Arattai takes a different approach to privacy. Although Zoho commits to not sharing user data will not be shared with third parties, the end-to-end encryption feature isn’t applicable to its text messaging feature – it is only applicable only on audio and video calls. This puts it at a major disadvantage when compared to WhatsApp.
Feature set and capacity
Both messengers cover the essentials — text, voice, video calls, and multimedia sharing. Arattai offers features geared toward larger and organised communication. While WhatsApp allows group chats with a current cap of 1,024 members, Arattai’s group chat limit is set at 1,000 participants and features dedicated Channels, just like WhatsApp. WhatsApp also allows users to create custom stickers from photos and videos.
Arattai or WhatsApp: Which one should you choose?
Even though the idea of a homegrown messaging app seems alluring, WhatsApp continues to be a better pick for texting, considering its superior privacy and security features. The app’s broader compatibility with multiple ecosystems and its wide reach give it an upper hand in this comparison.
