Sridhar Vembu makes big Arattai announcement, says E2E now rolling for group messages

Sridhar Vembu has announced that Arattai now supports end-to-end encryption for group messages. Users need to update the app to access the new privacy feature.

In Short

• Arattai gets E2EE for group messages
• Vembu asks users to update the app
• Zoho plans a marketing campaign for Arattai

Sridhar Vembu has announced that end-to-end encryption (E2EE) is now available for group messages on Arattai, Zoho's messaging app. The company founder has asked users to update the app to access the new privacy feature.

“Finally, end-to-end encryption for group messages is here. Please update the Arattai app,” Vembu said in a post on X.

He added that bringing the feature to group conversations took time because the team had to make extensive changes to the app. “This took time because we had to redo a lot of the app but finally it is here!” he said.

Vembu also said Arattai will soon begin a marketing campaign, suggesting that the company is preparing to push the messaging platform more actively. The latest update extends E2EE to group conversations. With end-to-end encryption, messages are protected so that their contents are intended to remain accessible only to the participants in a conversation.

Arattai had already introduced E2EE for personal chats. In November 2025, Vembu had shared a first look at the redesigned app and said users could choose E2EE as the default mode for their personal conversations. He had also shown an option allowing users to switch between regular and encrypted modes.

The addition of encryption for group messages means the privacy feature is now being extended beyond one-to-one conversations. Vembu did not share further technical details about the group encryption system in his latest post, such as the encryption protocol being used or whether the feature is enabled automatically for all groups. His announcement instead focuses on the availability of the feature and the need for users to update Arattai.

Vembu talks about AI and software development, says it is in sad state

The Arattai announcement comes shortly after Vembu commented on concerns around the growing use of AI tools in software development. On September 20, a user on X complained that engineers at a large company were relying heavily on Claude Code to create specifications, code, tests, tickets and other work, leaving little time for people to understand what was being produced.

Replying to the post, Vembu said companies should use AI but should not give up their own understanding of the work.

“This is sad. I tell our engineers to use AI but never cede our understanding to AI,” he wrote. He also warned that the industry could be moving too quickly with AI systems without fully understanding how to use them.

- Ends