Arattai Messenger app.
Credit: Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Education/ X platform
After facing backlash from users, Zoho Corp co-founder Sridhar Vembu has announced to bring end-to-end encryption security to the Arattai Messenger app in India.
Vembu on the X platform said the user privacy feature will be enabled with an app update later tonight (November 18).
With end-to-end encryption enabled, conversations between the two individuals will be private and cannot be intercepted by any means. Even the government or Zoho, which offers Arattai Messenger service, can't access it.
However, Vembu noted that the company needs a little more time to bring end-to-end encryption for group chats and is likely to be enabled in December.
Also, encryption of cloud backup of the chat history will be enabled in the coming weeks.
Though Arattai Messenger has been available in Android and iOS versions since 2021, but grew in popularity just recently after Union Ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw (IT) and Dharmendra Pradhan (Education) promoted it and urged citizens to for swadeshi (indigenous) apps.
Within a week, it topped the charts on both Google Play and Apple App Store. But, once the word got out that the Arattai Messenger doesn't support end-to-end encryption, it came under heavy scrutiny on social media platforms, and ratings too came down.
Now, with the announcement of bringing the user privacy security feature, Arattai has the potential to give good competition to WhatsApp, which, by the way, has more than 500 million active users in India alone.
Arattai Messenger will also get a new disappearing message feature, which allows users to set a timer for each message to vanish after the expiry of the preset time.
Vembu has announced that bring more such value-added features in the coming weeks.
Get the latest news on new launches, gadget reviews, apps, cybersecurity, and more on personal technology only on DH Tech.