Zoho’s indigenous instant messaging platform Arattai, now offers a new feature enabling users to convert images into stickers. The feature, showcased on X (formerly Twitter) by Arattai, allows users to snap a picture using their phone’s camera and then convert it into a sticker. These custom stickers can be readily shared in chats once created.
This marks the second feature introduction by Arattai within the last 10 days. On March 21, the company unveiled a chat backup feature, allowing users to securely back up their end-to-end encrypted chats to Google Drive on Android or iCloud on iOS for easy restoration.
Arattai gained prominence after receiving public support from IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Dharmendra Pradhan as an indigenous alternative to WhatsApp. Consequently, the platform experienced a significant surge in traffic, increasing by 100 times in just three days.
Setting itself apart from WhatsApp, Arattai offers unique features like chatting via a username without sharing a mobile number, a dedicated space for saving and organizing important messages, media, and notes across devices in the cloud, and a designated “Meetings” tab for creating and scheduling video meetings.
However, the app lacks certain functionalities available on WhatsApp, including payments, events, disappearing messages, and advanced chat security.
The implementation of end-to-end encryption for individual chats became crucial for Arattai as its popularity grew. In November, the company introduced end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for direct conversations on the platform, ensuring that all messages are encrypted on the user’s device before transmission, including chat backups.
Despite its initial surge in popularity assisted by government backing, Arattai faced a decline in rankings, dropping out of the top 100 apps on both Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store by November 2025. Zoho’s founder, Sridhar Vembu, addressed the ranking dip, emphasizing that it is a normal aspect of app development, indicating the company’s focus on building sustainable technology for Arattai rather than chasing short-term hype. As of now, the app has yet to reclaim a position in the top 100 rankings.