So, it turns out, there is an app meant for Safaricom Home subscribers, after all. Sort of. I say so because the app, while publicly available, is still under testing and has an “unreleased” tag on the Google Play Store.
I’ve spent the last few hours giving it a spin and for a beta, it’s quite good. Much better than what we got with Songa, the music streaming service, when its app first showed up. It has echoes of Safaricom’s main mobile app when it debuted in beta back in 2016.
So, if, like yours truly, are a Safaricom Home customer, this is what you will be getting with the Safaricom Home app because for as long as you have an Android smartphone, the need for it will only compound in coming days even though you can still do the same on the *400# shortcode and some tasks on the mySafaricom app:
Setup
The onboarding process is simple. Download and install the application, grant it the permissions necessary for it to run (because, Android security), verify your mobile phone number and, voila! You’re in.
Features
The entire app, at least as it is now, is built to be as simple to use as possible.
From my understanding, based on my little interaction with it, it performs both an informational role as well as a utilitarian one.
For the former, jumping to the “Get Help” tab provides one with access to readily available information on Safaricom Home products as well as their existing subscription – account and home information.
For the latter, users can switch between subscription packages or even pay for or renew already existing plans. This is where it gets better from a user point of view as it provides something that we’ve, at least as far as my usage is concerned, not had so far: the ability to pay upfront for a few months instead of every month. That is possible for up to half a year and is, right now, the biggest use case I’d have for the app.
Interestingly, the app shuns any highlight of the Easy bundles, the other Safaricom Home product we have seen announced this year largely targeting those who are not served by Safaricom’s Fibre-to-the-Home service but have its digital media streaming box.
Since the app is still under testing, every bug one encounters needs to be logged and reported. You can do this by simply shaking your phone and filling in the particulars of the bug you’ve encountered – even attach screenshots while at it.
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