- Safaricom launched its new M-Pesa feature on Tuesday, March 24, and explained how it will work in everyday transactions
- The telecom company said the feature will help protect users’ personal information, reduce abuse, and support secure transactions
- Previously, when money was transferred through M-Pesa, recipients would receive a confirmation SMS from Safaricom that included the sender’s full phone number
The largest telecommunications company in Kenya, Safaricomhas officially launched its new M-Pesa feature that hides phone numbers in M-Pesa transactions.
Source: Twitter
The new feature was launched on Tuesday, March 24, 2026.
Why did Safaricom launch the new M-Pesa feature?
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) approved the expansion of the service to include merchant payments, marking it as a comprehensive privacy enhancement in line with the Data Protection Act, 2019.
“If you send through M-Pesa, only the sender’s essential information will be visible to the recipient. This improvement will help protect your personal information, reduce misuse, and support more secure transactions. It will also enhance your everyday privacy,” Safaricom said.
The telecom company emphasized that the new feature will reduce fraud by hiding the middle three digits of the phone number.
How many transactions does M-Pesa handle?
Remittance feature of M-Moneywhich handles 37 million daily transactions worth KSh 27 billion out of a total of 137.9 million daily transactions worth KSh 118 billion, will be the main area affected by the change.
The platform records 14.1 million peer-to-peer (P2P) users daily.
These figures underline the importance of the update, making it one of the most significant privacy improvements Safaricom has introduced to M-Pesa since its launch in 2007.
Source: Facebook
What are the new changes in M-Pesa transactions?
Previously, recipients received a confirmation SMS from Safaricom when money was sent via M-Pesa, showing the sender’s full phone number and full name three.
From March 24, the phone number will be partially obscured, appearing, for example, as 0705***734, with the sender’s first and last names still visible.
The transaction date, reference number, and amount will remain unchanged.
Safaricom has also extended this masking to Paybill and Buy Goods SMS notifications for small businesses, who were previously excluded by the previous change which only applied to large organizations connected directly to the C2B and Buy Goods APIs.
How can M-Pesa users identify the sender’s details?
In cases where the recipient must identify the sender, Safaricom has developed a solution.
A transaction SMS can be sent to 334, which prompts the sender to give their full name and phone number.
If they accept, you receive a notification via a return message; If they decline, you are notified of their choice. Each request has a validity period of 24 hours and is limited per transaction.
What was the court decision regarding the sale of unused lines?
In other news, the High Court ruled that Safaricom and other telecommunications companies cannot sell unused lines without the consent of previous users.
According to Justice Lawrence Mugambi’s ruling, a person’s phone number becomes his digital representation after providing his national ID and other information.
Kenyans shared cases where the phone numbers of their deceased loved ones were transferred to other users.
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