The new privacy policy tweak by WhatsApp has triggered a massive panic reaction from the people, especially in India, who are now looking at newer alternatives.
And into this kerfuffle, Indian SaaS (Software as a Service) company Zoho is getting ready to formally launch its messaging app named Arattai, which is Tamil for chit-chat. It is already in circulation in certain circles.
Arattai's timing is spot on. As we said, Indians are looking for a change from WhatsApp, and the national mood is also decidedly nationalist, as it were. Zoho is an Indian unicorn fitting the 'made in India' tag much in demand these days.
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An app for family and friends
The talk of the app has been doing the rounds since yesterday. As it happened, Zoho’s founder Sridhar Vembu, in a Tweet, dropped some info about the app, which is said to be being tested among ‘friends and family’.
The app is, however, available on the Google Play Store, Arattai has a 4.6 rating, has over 10,000 installs, and the reviews already call it the “best replacement of WhatsApp”. It is also on offer on the Apple app store.
A formal launch is expected soon.
Our Arattai team asked me to not talk about our instant messaging app yet but since it is already being talked about 😂, I guess I can talk too. This is a friends-and-family trial release. We will do a formal launch in a few weeks. We have a lot more in store. Stay tuned!January 10, 2021
Zoho says users privacy is key
Arattai's Privacy Policy with regard to with whom it shares users info reads as follows: "We do not share or otherwise disclose the information collected by us to third parties without your prior specific consent.
However, Arattai adds, "we may need to share your information with our employees, business partners, reselling partners and other third party service providers who are engaged by us in order to assist us in rendering our service. Such sharing occurs only on a need-to-know basis and only with those who maintain appropriate confidentiality and security practices."
WhatsApp, on the other hand, has said that it would now share data with Facebook. WhatsApp also said users won’t be able to use the messaging app unless they sign up along with the new rules.
Arattai says “Customer privacy is our number one priority. Arattai makes sure that your data is private and is accessible only by you”.
