Safaricom has upgraded its mobile phone application and as a result mySafaricom app users will now have the ability to conduct MShwari, KCB-M-Pesa transactions and other payment options directly from their smartphones.

These transactions were previously only supported through USSD commands.

Other new features include Lipa na MPesa Bill Manager, use of QR Code scanning for payments through the application and in-phone M-Pesa 1 Tap capabilities.

The Lipa na M-Pesa bill manager provides customers with a centralised view of their MPesa payments and shows frequently used paybill numbers to enhance security.

Safaricom said that customers can also put up bill payment reminders in the application.

The QR code payments and M-Pesa 1 Tap capabilities have been introduced to speed up the payment process. "Safaricom has already began rolling out new Lipa Na M-Pesa stickers with QR codes to the more than 140,000 M-Pesa agents and 80,000 Lipa Na M-Pesa merchants," the company said.

The 1 Tap capability was previously reserved for those who had a card, wrist band or a phone sticker with Near Field Communication (NFC) function. Now all smartphone users with NFC-enabled phones, will have the feature embedded through the application.

"In 2016, we introduced the mySafaricom app as a modern and convenient way for smartphone users to interact with our services. This new update brings a range of refinements that will further increase the ease and convenience enjoyed by our customers whenever they interact with our different services," said Joseph Ogutu, Director – Strategy, Safaricom.

"The new update also introduces a Data Usage manager that allows customers to view their data usage for a given period and a list of applications and data used by each app during the period," the company added.

mySafaricom has over 1.6 million users on both Google and Apple devices.