Safaricom has two main apps that millions of its customers use: the M-PESA app and the all-in-on utility tool mySafaricom.
The M-PESA app was officially launched this year, but it had been under tests for a little bit longer.
mySafaricom has the majority of the features that the M-PESA app packs, but it goes an extra step by packaging voice and SMS packages, not to mention a Home Fibre tab now that the official Home app will be discontinued at the end of the month.
You should remember that mySafaricom would not sign in or up users that were on a Wi-Fi connection. This was an issue that made a lot of people angry. Some customers would sign in, especially on the Android side of things, but that was limited to those that were running Android 9 or earlier versions.
We are happy to see that this is a thing of the past. Now, you can download the app and set it up with a Wi-Fi connection.
We also experienced the same issue with the M-PESA app, but the mobile money product has since been improved to see that this is not the case.
If you are on a Wi-Fi connection, the M-PESA app will prompt you to switch to mobile data to activate it.
Don’t worry though, because there is a way to go around that. First, you need to allow offline mode. This will ensure that the app is set-up even without any kind of connection. Still, you will be connected to your Wi-Fi, and offline mode will kick in. You can then activate the app and enjoy many of its useful features, such as improved statements and mini-apps.
We are glad that this is now possible because it eliminates the need to keep switching connections so could simply sign in.
Also, did we mention that M-PESA app can work on two phones, unlike mySafaricom? Just make sure you activate it on the first phone (with your SIM card in it), and don’t uninstall it if you move to the next device. You can access M-PESA services from both, and I believe this is a very useful feature for some people.
