General
Arattai is an easy-to-use, instant messaging app that helps you stay connected. It is simple, secure, and Indian-made. With Arattai you can send texts and voice notes, make audio/video calls, start and participate in meetings, post stories, share photos, documents, and much more. The app requires a mobile number to register and use the service.
Arattai is a versatile communication app that lets you send text/voice messages, make audio/video calls, share stories, connect through groups and channels, and share images, documents, and media files.
Arattai was designed with a strong focus on privacy and security. Direct chats and calls are encrypted end-to-end. With several privacy and security features and settings, Arattai strives to provide a safe communication experience for everyone. Arattai was built by the creators at Zoho. Our 10+ years of experience building communication and collaboration apps for enterprises was leveraged to deliver this app. Additionally, Zoho Corporation's industry-leading commitment to user privacy has cemented the app's journey.
Yes, it is a free, simple, secure way to connect with friends and family. As a cross-platform messaging app, Arattai provides a user-friendly platform for all your communication needs.
Yes, you can use Arattai across multiple devices, including smartphones, tablets and desktops. You can use Arattai on up to five of these devices at a time. When you use Arattai across multiple devices, your messages, contacts, and settings are synced. This means you have a seamless and secure experience when you switch between devices.
Groups
A maximum of 1000 active participants can be in a one group.
- Admins can control who updates the group info, sends messages, adds participants, allows forwarded messages, pins a message, and adds reactions.
- Group owners have all the rights of an admin. They cannot be removed by anyone and will remain unless they exit the group. Only the owner has the power to remove or demote an admin as a member of a group.
- With ownership transfer, a feature that is under development, owners can transfer their powers to a fellow admin.
A group can have a maximum of 50 admins.
Notifications
In the Arattai app:
- Go to Settings > Notifications > Turn on notifications
- Ensure that Do Not Disturb (DND mode) is turned off.
On the device
- Click Settings > Arattai > Allow notifications
Some Android smartphone manufacturers optimize battery use for all apps by blocking background services to conserve power and extend battery life. Arattai cannot display a notification when its background service is stopped, as this is a device-specific setting. This could potentially cause issues with real-time notifications on Android smartphones.
To fix this, you need to change a few settings on your Android smartphone:
- 1. Enable auto-start for the Arattai app.
- 2. Enable notifications for the app.
- 3. Allow access for the app to run in the background.
Messaging
No, you cannot send SMSs or MMSs in Arattai.
Group chats can be exported from WhatsApp and imported into Arattai. Each group chat must be imported individually. For detailed steps, please refer to the help document here: Import Chat from WhatsApp
Calls
No, all calls are over the internet. An active internet connection is all that is needed to make calls around the world.
All calls made via Arattai are end-to-end encrypted. This means the information shared in the call is neither accessible by the service nor by anyone in between.
Accounts
There is an option to reset the OTP every 60 seconds. However, the OTP usually is valid for 15 minutes.
You can delete and close your Arattai account by navigating to Settings > Accounts > and clicking on Delete Account. Deleting your account is an irreversible process, which cannot be changed even if you do it accidentally. On doing so, you will permanently lose your data.
The data is stored in India; all conversations and titles are encrypted in storage.
A unique ID to identify the device and a self-assigned ID to identify the account are collected. These are internal IDs, and we don't allow third-party services to query data using this.
We collect events, APIs, crash info, non-fatal sessions, and screens in usage data. All this information is collected based on user preference in Settings > Security & Privacy > Analytics > Share Usage Statistics. No user mapping is involved in this information.
App Permissions
Request to access contacts
- To sync your Android/iOS contacts with Arattai, you will need to allow Arattai access to your contacts. This access is necessary to share any contact across chats instantly. If this access is denied, Arattai will not be able to sync all your contacts and show them inside the app.
Request to access the microphone
- Arattai will require access to your microphone to facilitate audio/video calls and send voice messages.
Request to access the camera
- You will need to allow Arattai access to your camera to engage in video calls, capture pictures instantly, and share them in chats.
Request to access your location
- If you want to share your live location in any chat, this app permission needs to be allowed. If this access is denied, you will not be able to share your location with any of your friends or family members in Arattai.
Request to access device storage
- You will need to allow Arattai access to your device storage to send and save photos, videos, and other files.