Arattai’s Biggest Security Update Arrives Soon, Confirms Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu: What Users Need to Know
Arattai , Zoho ’s homegrown messaging app, is about to receive its biggest security overhaul yet. Zoho co-founder and Chief Scientist Sridhar Vembu confirmed that the platform will soon switch to mandatory end-to-end encryption (E2EE) across its entire system a move that transforms how messages are protected on the app.
“If all goes well, we plan to deploy in a few days. It will be a forced upgrade on all because it is a drastic change,” Vembu said.
A mandatory update is necessary because the new encryption model alters Arattai’s core architecture.
Vembu expressed gratitude to users for their patience as the company transitions to a stronger security framework.
“The protocol level stuff works fine because that has been stable code. The issues we identified were in the mandatory switch over process itself, and also in transferring larger files. The switch over process has been refined now (but we have to do this for millions of users at once, so keeping fingers crossed until it is done). Large file transfer causes memory issues in Android (iPhone works fine) and we are fixing that now.”
With final testing in progress, Arattai users can expect the security upgrade to go live within days — ushering in a safer, fully encrypted messaging experience.
Rollout Begins With One-to-One Chats
In a post on X, Vembu shared that the company has chosen a full-scale rollout, starting with personal chats before expanding to group conversations. The upgrade demanded extensive redesign and careful internal testing because of how deeply the encryption changes affect the app.6,000 Employees Stress-Testing the New System
Zoho has deployed nearly 6,000 employees to test the new build. Engineers have already identified and fixed several issues in the initial phase, and a fresh build is now being evaluated.“If all goes well, we plan to deploy in a few days. It will be a forced upgrade on all because it is a drastic change,” Vembu said.
A mandatory update is necessary because the new encryption model alters Arattai’s core architecture.
Feature Already Present, Awaiting Activation
Interestingly, users can already download the updated version of Arattai, but the encryption feature will remain inactive until the testing phase is complete. The new build also includes general performance enhancements, offering a smoother, faster interface.Vembu expressed gratitude to users for their patience as the company transitions to a stronger security framework.
Developers Address Technical Questions
When an X user, @personalfinx, asked whether Arattai’s new architecture involved changes to key rotation or metadata minimisation, Vembu clarified the situation:“The protocol level stuff works fine because that has been stable code. The issues we identified were in the mandatory switch over process itself, and also in transferring larger files. The switch over process has been refined now (but we have to do this for millions of users at once, so keeping fingers crossed until it is done). Large file transfer causes memory issues in Android (iPhone works fine) and we are fixing that now.”
With final testing in progress, Arattai users can expect the security upgrade to go live within days — ushering in a safer, fully encrypted messaging experience.
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