There is a new update to the mySafaricom app rolling out right now as version 1.4.0.8. As per the changelog provided by the telco, the update brings one very important feature – the ability to reverse send money M-Pesa transactions right from within the app.
Sending money to the wrong number is something that hasn’t happened to me ever. Not even before the Safaricom app came in. With the app, you can see details of the recipient and even the charges involved in sending the money before you hit the Send button. But still, for some reason, some people end up sending money to the wrong number.
With this feature, Safaricom wants you to have a hassle-free way of requesting for the M-Pesa reversal service right from within the app. To do this, launch the app and go to M-PESA > M-PESA statement > Mini Statement and tap on the reversal icon that appears against each transaction in the list. See below screenshots of before (left) and after the update (right).
Once you hit the reversal icon, Safaricom will ask for a confirmation from you in order to initiate the reversal, but of course, we don’t know the caveats involved. For instance, can the feature still be effective hours or even days after the transaction? How long is the wait?
Although I didn’t try to reverse any transaction for obvious reasons, I can still see the icon against transactions that are a few days old. Interestingly, the icon is also visible on Lipa na M-Pesa transactions and even those for buying airtime and transferring money between M-Pesa and Mshwari, but why would one want to reverse a transaction they did between M-Pesa and Mshwari?
Besides the new send money reversal request, the update to version 1.4.0.8 also improves the prepaid usage statement under the Check Balance option, where you can now see your last ten transactions and the charges incurred in the process.
Also, it’s obvious that the telco has redone the UI as seen in the screengrabs but not by much.
It’s worth noting that this update is still in beta, but we expect these features to hit the stable channel in the coming days.
