After Arattai, Zoho’s Google Chrome killer tops App Store charts. Here’s what makes Ulaa browser special
Homegrown software maker Zoho is on a rampage with its set of India-made software that is taking on the global giants. Recently, Zoho’s Arattai app had witnessed a reckoning of sorts as it topped the App Store charts on Apple App Store and Play Store, while also receiving many positive recommendations from its initial set of users.
In a matter of days, we have a new Zoho app called Ulaa browser, which has taken over the App Store rankings. While Arattai was meant as a WhatsApp alternative for the masses, the Ulaa browser is aimed at taking a similar sort of competition to Google Chrome on Android and iOS.
What is Ulaa browser?
Ulaa browser takes the competition directly to Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari amid an array of other products. The browser is also available on all the popular platforms like Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and Linux, with a particular focus on privacy.
While Ulaa is built on Chromium, just like Google Chrome, the new browser does not collect, store, or sell user data. In contrast, while Google does not sell user data to advertisers, it does collect data to personalize the ads shown to users.
“Ulaa provides state-of-the-art features that ensure your personal information is kept confidential and your online footprint remains hidden from the advertisers’ prying eyes,” Zoho says in a blog post.
Ulaa browser also offers built-in ad blockers and tracker protection in order to make the browsing experience cleaner and safer.
The new browser also comes with different profile modes: Work, Personal, Kids, Developer, and Open Season. The work mode is aimed at enterprise users, while the Developer mode is designed for professional web developers and testers, and personal mode for normal users.
Ulaa browser had also won the Indian Web Browser Development Challenge by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to create an indigenous browser for the world.
Ulaa is also integrated with Zoho‘s SSO authentication system, which allows users to securely sign in to any Zoho application seamlessly without having to sign in manually every single time. The different browser modes are also integrated with Zia, the AI-powered unified search system for Zoho apps.
One area where Ulaa browser lags behind Google Chrome and a range of other browsers is the lack of any significant AI features. Notably, rivals like Perplexity are building their AI-based Comet browser to take on the dominance of Chrome. Meanwhile, OpenAI has built the ChatGPT agent, locked inside its paywall, which completes many of the tasks done by a traditional browser. Ulaa will ultimately have to embrace agentic AI in its browser if it wants to meaningfully compete and ultimately dethrone Chrome in the browser race.
