How to use Safaricom’s M-PESA Tap-to-Pay, Scan-to-Pay and AI Pay

Safaricom has introduced three new payment options for its M-PESA service that aim to simplify the payment process for customers. These options include Dynamic Scan-to-Pay, Tap-to-Pay, and AI Pay. Dynamic Scan-to-Pay builds upon the existing Scan-to-Pay service and allows customers to scan a QR code displayed on a compatible Pesapal POS network terminal.

This automatically populates the merchant details and payment amount, reducing the need to manually enter this information. The feature is currently available at over 60,000 merchants.

Tap-to-Pay is another option that uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. Customers with NFC-enabled smartphones can bring their device close to a compatible Pesapal POS terminal. This initiates the payment through a contactless connection, after which the customer verifies and completes the transaction. However, this option requires both the customer's device and the merchant's terminal to support NFC.

The third option, AI Pay, uses artificial intelligence to extract payment information from receipts. Customers can scan a receipt through the My OneApp application, including handwritten receipts. The system then identifies and fills in the relevant Till or PayBill details and payment amount. This could save customers time by eliminating the need to manually copy payment details from a receipt.

Each of these new payment options addresses the issue of manually entering merchant details in a different way. Dynamic Scan-to-Pay uses QR codes, Tap-to-Pay uses NFC, and AI Pay uses artificial intelligence. The practical impact for customers is a shift away from repeatedly typing payment details towards scanning, tapping, and automatically populating transaction information. However, the availability of these options depends on the participating payment terminal, merchant, and device requirements.