Arattai introduces end-to-end encryption for individual chats, group feature to follow
While E2EE is currently limited to individual chats, Arattai has confirmed that encryption for group conversations is forthcoming.
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Zoho’s homegrown messaging platform, Arattai, has begun rolling out end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for individual chats, marking a significant privacy upgrade for users across Android, iOS and desktop. With the update, all direct conversations are now encrypted on the user’s device before being transmitted, adopting a model similar to those used by WhatsApp and Signal. This ensures that messages are visible only to the sender and recipient, with Zoho itself unable to access the content.
The company announced the development in a detailed post on X, confirming that one-on-one chats will now automatically shift to encrypted sessions once users update to the latest versions—v1.33.6 on Android, v1.17.23 on iOS and v1.0.7 on desktop. A small shield icon will appear beside a contact’s name in the chat window, indicating that E2EE is active.
Unlike platforms that simply enable encryption within existing chat threads, Arattai is introducing the feature by generating entirely new encrypted chat sessions. As a result, older non-encrypted conversations are automatically archived and become read-only. Zoho Founder Sridhar Vembu previously noted that users will not be able to continue messaging in these older threads. Opening them will instead redirect users to the new encrypted window. Older chats will not be retroactively encrypted and will remain accessible in the archived section in their original form.
While E2EE is currently limited to individual chats, Arattai has confirmed that encryption for group conversations is forthcoming.
To ease the transition, the platform is offering a brief grace period. If one participant in a chat has not yet updated to the new version, the existing non-encrypted conversation can continue for up to 72 hours. The company advises users to use this buffer to prompt contacts to update. After the three-day window, the update becomes mandatory and all users will be automatically migrated to the latest version of the app.
