We are mostly aware of three primary Safaricom smartphone apps: the M-PESA app, which has since been downloaded more than 5 million times, the good old mySafaricom app, and the M-PESA business app. There are others too, and some have since been scrapped off, including the much loved M-Ledger app that still some people want to see revived – and we all subtly know that it will never happen – and, the Home Fibre app whose features were moved to mySafaricom.
Speaking of mySafaricom app, the utility tool is one of the
most robust products that Safaricom has put out here. It offers many features
and services that customers relate to, and the good time at Safaricom keeps
updating it with additional enhancements.
Now, today’s update is very crucial especially when we consider that Kenyans have been asked to update their SIM card details. Prior to the update, you could update your SIM details via a provided portal by the telco, or by visiting an M-PESA agent/care centre shop.
The good news is that you don’t need to do all that as the
app now allows you to re-confirm your registration details so that your SIM isn’t
switched off in October 2022, which is the deadline of the exercise.
Part of the app’s changelog reads as follows:
- Update
your SIM registration status and verify the numbers associated with your
ID.
- Update
your SIM registration details
The first point is particularly interesting because phone users have only been confirming the numbers associated with their ID via USSD. They can also report the numbers that they do not recognize so that the carrier can investigate, and if possible (it is not clear how the verification process is done, whether the strange numbers are switched off, and how long the whole process takes), deal with the reported inconsistencies.
See, these issues have come up because there is a big
security lapse when registering SIM cards. Operators and their resellers sell
them on the streets, and some hawkers even give them away for free.
Furthermore, some SIM cards are illegally registered by agents who fraudulently
conspire with criminals, but there is a proposed law
that seeks to trace SIM cards to agents who registered them, and this can
go a long way in eliminating the vice.
It is a good idea that these actions can now be completed from the mySafaricom app, and we hope future updates will make the app more robust and feature-packed.