When Safaricom introduced My OneApp, the idea was simple: bring everything together under one roof. Instead of juggling separate apps for M-PESA, Safaricom Home services, Ziidi, and other services, users would have one app to manage their digital lives.
It’s a good idea. In many ways, it works. But after using the app for some time, I keep running into one limitation that feels surprisingly outdated for 2026. My OneApp only lets me sign into one phone number at a time. That might not sound like a big deal until you remember how many Kenyans actually use more than one Safaricom line.
Safaricom itself allows customers to register up to five SIM cards under a single national ID. Plenty of people have a personal line, a business line, a family line, or simply separate numbers for different purposes. Each of those lines can have its own M-PESA wallet. Yet if you want to manage those wallets through My OneApp, you’re forced to sign out of one account before signing into another.
It’s an experience that feels unnecessarily cumbersome.
So:
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Poll: Should Safaricom allow multiple phone numbers in My OneApp?
Banks have already solved this problem
This is where the comparison becomes interesting. On my phone, the Stanbic Bank app lets me manage multiple bank accounts using the same application. My current account and savings account are available from one place without repeatedly signing in and out. The Equity Bank mobile app offers a similar experience by allowing multiple accounts to be managed from within the same application.
This isn’t some groundbreaking feature anymore. It’s become standard practice across many financial institutions. That’s why My OneApp’s limitation stands out. But to be fair, My Airtel app also has the same limitation, so it’s not just the Big Green.
I reached out to Safaricom support about this limitation, and the explanation I received was that supporting multiple phone numbers in the app isn’t possible for security reasons. However, customer support teams don’t always have visibility into product decisions or engineering constraints, so I wouldn’t treat that response as a definitive technical explanation.
Even so, it raises more questions than answers. Modern banking applications deal with significantly larger financial transactions and highly sensitive customer information, yet many have found secure ways to let users switch between or manage multiple accounts.
If banks can do it securely, why can’t Safaricom? Perhaps there are backend limitations tied to how M-PESA authentication works. Maybe there are fraud prevention considerations that aren’t immediately obvious. Or maybe the feature simply hasn’t been prioritised yet. Whatever the reason, the current experience leaves a lot to be desired.
Logging in and out shouldn’t be the only option
Having to enter another phone number, wait for authentication, verify the account, and switch back again every time you need a different wallet feels like something we’d expect from years ago. Today, many users carry dual-SIM phones. Others have dedicated business numbers. Some families even manage multiple registered lines.
These aren’t edge cases anymore, they’re everyday realities. One person can legally own multiple Safaricom lines, so it would make sense if My OneApp acknowledged that reality too. Imagine being able to add your registered numbers once, then switch between them with a tap after biometric authentication or a PIN confirmation.
That’s both convenient and, arguably, secure.
My take
I think My OneApp has made meaningful progress in bringing Safaricom’s digital services into one place, but support for multiple phone numbers feels like one of the biggest missing pieces. It’s one of those quality-of-life improvements that could save users time every single day while making the app feel more polished and modern. Whether it’s technically difficult or simply waiting on the product roadmap, I’d love to see Safaricom revisit this feature.
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