WhatsApp vs Arattai: One Feature That Is Only Available On The Indian App

While WhatsApp dominates the global messaging landscape, Zoho's homegrown Indian app Arattai offers one feature that the Meta-owned giant still doesn't provide in 2025 - integrated meeting scheduling.

Arattai includes a dedicated meetings section where users can schedule meetings and invite colleagues, similar to Microsoft Teams, a feature WhatsApp still lacks. This makes the Indian app particularly useful for professional coordination and workplace communication.

Launched in January 2021 by Zoho Corporation, Arattai has recently surged to the top position in India's App Store Social Networking category. The app, whose name means "casual chat" in Tamil, was designed as part of India's "Atmanirbhar Bharat" initiative, emphasizing digital sovereignty and local data storage.

Arattai also distinguishes itself with a "Pocket" feature that provides a self-chat space where users can store photos, videos, notes, reminders, and files for personal organization. While WhatsApp introduced its own "Chat with Yourself" feature several years ago, Arattai's Pocket was purpose-built from the start, unlike WhatsApp's earlier workaround where users had to create a group and remove contacts to achieve similar functionality.

However, WhatsApp maintains significant advantages in certain areas. WhatsApp provides end-to-end encryption for all communications including texts, calls, and media, while Arattai currently offers this encryption only for voice and video calls, not for text messages.

With over 500 million users in India alone and 3 billion globally, WhatsApp's massive user base and Meta ecosystem integration make it the dominant choice for both personal and business communication. Yet Arattai's meeting scheduling feature and India-first design philosophy continue to attract users seeking homegrown alternatives with greater privacy control and local relevance.