Zoho’s Arattai to roll out end-to-end encryption; users asked to update app

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu on Tuesday said the company will begin enabling end-to-end encryption (E2EE) on its messaging app Arattai from Tuesday night (IST), urging users to update to the latest version to transition to the new secure chat system.

In a post on X, Vembu said users on the updated app will be able to use end-to-end encrypted chats only with contacts who have also upgraded.

“Please update the Arattai app from the Play Store/App Store and please encourage your contacts to do so. The end-to-end encryption will be enabled Tuesday night IST,” he said.

Once both users are on the latest version, a new encrypted chat session will be created and older non-encrypted chat windows will be archived, he noted.

“You cannot continue the old chat session… The old chat screen will simply redirect you to the end to end chat screen (sic),” Vembu said.

Users whose contacts are still on an older version will be able to continue using their existing chat threads for three days, after which all users will be migrated to the updated version, and E2EE will become mandatory across the platform.

Vembu added that group chats are not yet encrypted, with support expected “in a few weeks for groups of a certain size”, while encrypted chat backups will be introduced in about two weeks.

“We have many more cool features in the works once we get through this big transition,” he said.

Launched in 2021, Arattai has seen a sudden spike in downloads in recent weeks amid vocal endorsements from ministers, business leaders and startup founders calling for wider adoption of the homegrown messaging platform.

However, there have been privacy and data security concerns around Zoho products, including the lack of end-to-end encryption in Arattai.

Vembu recently clarified that all Zoho products are developed in India, with the company’s global headquarters in Chennai, and that it pays taxes on its global income in India.

He said Indian customer data is hosted domestically in Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai, and an additional data centre is planned in Odisha.

He also clarified that Zoho’s developer accounts on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store list the US office address due to early testing and not as an indication of data hosting.