How do you stop Airtel flash SMS notification? Here’s what we know so far

Back in January, we showed you exactly how to stop the annoying Safaricom flash SMS message, that pesky “End of call notification” bombarding your screen with your last call duration, remaining airtime balance, and uninvited marketing promos. Safaricom quickly provided a working solution when we reached out, and many of you used that trick to reclaim your screen.

Naturally, our readers immediately started asking the obvious follow-up question: “What about Airtel?”

Well, I’ve been playing a frustrating game of hide-and-seek with Airtel Kenya for months now. While Safaricom gave us a direct fix, getting a straight answer out of Airtel felt like pulling teeth.

If you use Airtel, you already know the pain. The Airtel flash SMS is arguably worse than the competition, especially after sending a simple text message. Lately, the prompt has become incredibly aggressive and almost impossible to dismiss. When the notification pops up and you press “Cancel,” it instantly reappears. It forces you into a corner where your only other option is “Save,” which just clutters your phone with useless messages you never wanted in the first place.

I refused to let this slide. After multiple follow-ups with their customer support on X (formerly Twitter), I finally forced an acknowledgment. A week ago, an Airtel support agent finally broke the silence and gave me a glimmer of hope.

"Sorry about that, issue shared with the relevant team for further assistance. ^Lulu"

Knowing how corporate customer service works, I followed up a couple of days later for an update or timeline on when we can expect a USSD code or a quick toggle to disable this menace. Another agent stepped in with a brief but important update:

"Issue being looked in to ^Luca."

And as you can see from the screengrab below, I’ll keep pressing harder until we know how to stop Airtel flash SMS notification that keeps popping up after every call or message.

This isn’t the immediate, public-facing solution we were hoping to share with you today. However, it is a crucial first step. Airtel Kenya has quietly admitted that they are aware of the bug forcing users to “Save” flash SMS prompts, and they are actively looking into a fix. We might not know exactly when the solution is rolling out, but this admission gives us the leverage we need to hold them accountable.

I will keep tracking this story, continuously pushing Airtel for updates. As soon as the telco officially releases a way to turn off these flash messages for good, you’ll be the first to know right here. Keep it locked.