Last September, we reported that Safaricom planned to merge the MySafaricom app and the M-PESA Super app into a single, streamlined experience. Now, it looks like that unified future is officially at our doorstep.
Safaricom has quietly kicked off a pilot program for the merged app, and the telco is aggressively sending out exclusive invitations to users to beta test the new platform.
The invites are hitting inboxes
Yesterday, I received a rather straightforward SMS from Safaricom that read:
"Exclusive invitation to experience the new unified mySafaricom & M-PESA App. Click here, share your email & get access -https://bit.ly/3OVTUml"
Curious to see how widespread this rollout was, I poked around with my colleagues here at Techish. It turns out, Safaricom actually started firing off these invites last week. Below is a screenshot showing multiple persistent texts from the telco over the past few days, all pushing the same exclusive beta access link. If you’ve been ignoring your promotional SMS folder lately, you might want to give it a quick scan.
What happens when you click the link?
Tapping the provided link redirects you straight to a Microsoft Forms page titled “Welcome to the new converged mySafaricom & M-PESA App Pilot.”
The signup process is surprisingly brief. The form asks for your consent to take part in testing and receiving updates, noting that it won’t automatically scrape your data. To get on the list, you only need to provide two pieces of information:
- Your Phone number
- Your App Store Email (presumably to grant you TestFlight access on iOS or beta access via the Google Play Store).
Naturally, I submitted my details immediately to get a hands-on look at how Safaricom plans to balance its heavy telco features (data bundles, Bonga points, airtime) with the robust financial ecosystem of the M-PESA Super app (mini-apps, global pay, sending money).
However, as of this writing, I haven’t received any follow-up emails or app download links. It seems Safaricom is currently in the data-collection phase of the pilot and is holding off on flipping the switch to grant actual access just yet.
A unified app makes a lot of sense. Having two separate apps has always felt a bit disjointed, especially for a company pushing to be a primary digital lifestyle brand. I’m eager to see if this new converged app ends up being a seamless super-app or just a bloated hybrid of the two. We will be sure to give you a full hands-on review the moment our access is granted.
