Safaricom and Pesapal bring tap-to-pay and smarter QR checkout to M-PESA
The new checkout options let customers tap an NFC phone on a Pesapal terminal, scan a pre-filled QR code or use AI to read payment details from a receipt.
Safaricom and Pesapal have started rolling out new ways to pay with M-PESA at physical checkouts in Kenya. The options include tap-to-pay on compatible phones, a dynamic QR code that fills in the merchant and transaction details, and an AI tool that reads payment information from receipts.
The companies announced the rollout on October 1. Pesapal is bringing the payment options to its point-of-sale terminals, while Safaricom is handling the M-PESA side of the transaction. A customer using tap-to-pay holds an NFC-enabled smartphone near a Pesapal terminal, checks the transaction details and approves the payment.
Less typing at the till
Dynamic Scan-to-Pay tackles a familiar source of checkout errors. The Pesapal terminal displays a QR code containing the merchant details and payment amount. Once the customer scans it, those fields are filled automatically. The customer can confirm the information before completing the payment instead of entering a Till number and amount by hand.
Safaricom is also adding AI Pay to My OneApp. The company says the app has more than seven million downloads. AI Pay can scan a printed or handwritten receipt and, when the information is available, identify the Till or PayBill number and the amount due. The customer still reviews the details before sending money.
What merchants and customers should watch
The rollout puts M-PESA into a checkout experience that feels closer to contactless card payments while keeping the transaction inside the mobile money system. For merchants, the practical benefit is a shorter payment process with fewer details keyed in manually. Customers need a compatible phone for NFC tap-to-pay, while QR payment remains available when tapping is not supported.
The announcement does not say that every Pesapal terminal or every M-PESA customer will receive all three options immediately. Availability will depend on the terminal, the phone and the stage of the rollout. Merchants should confirm which functions are active on their equipment before presenting them to customers.
Business Tech Africa reported that the first phase covers 30,000 Pesapal terminals, mainly in restaurants, hotels and selected supermarkets. That gives the partners a large physical network on which to test customer behaviour and merchant support. A smooth payment depends on more than the phone and terminal. Staff need to recognise the new options, customers need clear prompts, and failed transactions must be easy to trace.
The three methods solve different checkout problems. Tap-to-pay is quickest for customers with NFC phones. Dynamic QR reduces typing while working through a camera. AI Pay is useful when payment details already appear on a receipt. Keeping all three available may matter more than pushing customers toward one method, because phones and merchant equipment vary widely across Kenya.