Safaricom has officially launched a transformative privacy feature for M-PESA that will now mask a sender’s phone number during mobile money transfers.
Announced by CEO Peter Ndegwa on March 11, 2026, to coincide with the platform’s 19th anniversary, the update will ensure that recipients initially see only limited identifying details rather than the sender’s full mobile number.
This move is a direct response to customer feedback regarding data security and is designed to eliminate the risks of unsolicited marketing, data harvesting, and fraud.
Safaricom Unveils M-PESA Feature That Conceals Sender Phone Numbers. Photo: Courtesy.
By prioritizing anonymity by default, Safaricom is aligning its operations with the Data Protection Act of 2019 while reinforcing the trust of its over 40 million active users.
How the New M-PESA Number Masking Feature Will Work
To balance privacy with the practical need for transaction verification, Safaricom has introduced a secure, consent-driven request system.
If a recipient requires the sender’s full details for instance, to confirm a business payment or resolve a dispute they can submit a request within 24 hours of the transaction.
Rather than releasing information automatically, the system will send a real-time prompt to the sender’s device asking for permission to share their full name and number.
If the sender approves, the details will be shared via SMS; however, if the sender declines or fails to respond within a two-hour window, the request will be automatically rejected.
This phased rollout will ensure that M-PESA remains both the most reliable and the most secure financial ecosystem in the region.
