Safaricom Unifies Mobile Experience with My OneApp Rollout

Kenya’s leading telco, Safaricom, is migrating users from its M-PESA and mySafaricom apps to a new unified platform called My OneApp. This strategic move aims to consolidate over 10 million users onto a single interface while strengthening Safaricom’s position in the competitive fintech landscape.

The transition began on April 3, with M-PESA app users receiving updates directing them to My OneApp. The mySafaricom app remains active for now, although no official timeline has been announced for when legacy apps will be retired.

A Strategic Shift Towards Platform Dominance

My OneApp represents a key component of Safaricom’s FinTech 2.0 strategy, which envisions the company evolving beyond traditional telecommunications into a comprehensive technology platform by 2030. By integrating M-PESA and mySafaricom features—which previously offered overlapping services—Safaricom seeks to:

  • Reduce app switching friction for users
  • Create a single environment where behavior and spending patterns can be tracked more holistically
  • Simplify its technology infrastructure by reducing code duplication

According to an internal source, the fragmented app strategy was a consequence of Safaricom’s growth trajectory—starting as a telco before expanding into financial services. Maintaining separate apps created operational inefficiencies and limited data insights.

Enhanced Functionality and Competitive Positioning

Built on a cloud-native architecture capable of handling 6,000 transactions per second, My OneApp offers several advantages:

  • Unified interface: Combines M-PESA payment features with other services like train bookings and health insurance (M-TIBA)
  • Personalized experiences: Uses machine learning to surface relevant actions based on user behavior (e.g., automatically prompting bill payments)
  • Expanded financial offerings: Integrates new products like the Ziidi money market fund and trader share-trading tools
  • Enhanced security: Utilizes biometric authentication for secure access

This move comes as competitors like Equity Group Holdings and KCB Group invest in improving their mobile apps to challenge M-PESA’s dominance. By offering a more comprehensive platform, Safaricom aims to retain users within its ecosystem while generating additional revenue through platform fees and data insights.