A few weeks ago, Safaricom announced that it had plans to add M-Shwari loan and saving services to the mySafaricom app. This was during the M-Shwari 5th anniversary celebration where it was announced that there are between 250,000 and 300,000 M-Shwari loan applications per day and about 70,000 of those get approved.
Even though M-Shwari applications are so many, the option to use the service on the mySafaricom app has been missing. This has been the case even though users could still access some basic M-Pesa services through the same app. I prefer using the app as it is much easier and user friendly unlike the SIM toolkit that we are used to.
If you actively use the mySafaricom app, then you should know that you can now access M-Shwari services directly through the app. The update has just been rolled out and you should be getting a notification of the same anytime from today. Besides M-Shwari, the update also brings the KCB M-Pesa option to the app.
Some other features the updated app has include:
Bill Manager – To simplify utility payments. You can add the Paybill numbers of services you regularly pay for like electricity, Pay Tv etc.
Data Meter – To easily track data consumption
QR Code Reader – To help you easily make payments, Just scan and pay
1 Tap – For NFC enabled phones running on Android 6 (Marshmallow) & above
Personalized Offers – for customized in app offers
Favourite Plans & Data/SMS/Voice History for Blaze users
Most of these are small changes that may appeal to different users. I am particularly interested in the QR code reader, 1 Tap and the bill manager. These are the new features that I am sure I will be using regularly. Bill manager will make my life a bit easier as I will not have to download third party applications to manage the many paybill numbers I use.
The QR Code reader also sounds interesting, instead of going through the many steps when making payments, I will only have to scan and pay and that is it. I just hope that there are enough places that support this option and most importantly, the places that support it should be ones that I go to.
If you are a Safaricom user, you can grab the mySafaricom app on Android here and on iOS here. The Android version supports all devices from Android 2.3 and above while the iOS version supports iOS 8 and above.
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