How to Add M-Pesa Xpress Billing to Google Play Store( A 2025 Guide)

The advent of M-Pesa in Kenya in 2007 has opened up the country to become the Global Village and perhaps the Silicon Savanna of Africa. M-Pesa has given birth to all the loan apps we see today, it has led to online internet banking and even rise of several others Mobile money transfer platforms such as Airtel money and T-Kash. As of December 2024, a Safaricom report suggests that M-Pesa has 34 million active users in Kenya, making it a crucial financial service.

With M-Pesa, you can not only send and receive Cash but also Purchase goods online. Its features include the M-Pesa Global Visa Card and the M-Pesa Xpress billing, which are meant for purchasing applications on the Google Play store.

In this guide, however, our focus will rotate around Xpress Billing, a service that allows Kenyans who own Android devices to buy software online easily. Even with the many years of operation in Kenya still, many are finding it difficult to access the M-Pesa Xpress Billing tool, but you will be glad to know that it is not as hard as it quite seems as this article has laid out all the knowledge you need to use the service for Play Store app Purchases.

What is M-Pesa Xpress Billing?

By now, it is clear what M-Pesa Xpress Billing is and what it does. However, for those not aware, Safaricom and Google launched the tool in 2018 through a collaborative partnership to allow Kenyans to easily make App purchases via the Google Play store even if they don’t have any Bank accounts or Cards ( Visa & Mastercard), considering that a large population of adults in Kenya remain unbanked.

Key Features

Some of the benefits of using the of M-Pesa Xpress Billing are :

• Payments are made in real-time, allowing your Paid downloadable app to open as soon as the transaction occurs.
• It’s more secure since you will be required to enter M-Pesa Pin after receiving a Prompt on your phone protecting you from the risks of Fraud
• It’s widely available to all 34 Million Active Kenyans using Android devices, even if they don’t have Bank accounts

Requirements: What You Need to Get Started

While the M-Pesa Xpress Billing is accessible to all Kenyan M-Pesa users, one has to meet eligibility criteria for them to use the service. Here is what you need to ensure you have in check:

• You Should be on a Smartphone that runs on the Android operating system of Android 10 or higher.
• You must have an active Safaricom SIM card and ensure that your number is Registered with M-Pesa Cash
• Your M-Pesa wallet should have enough balance to cover the Cost of the Purchase
• You should also have a Google account set up and linked to the Play Store.

Step-by-Step Registration Process

Follow these simple steps to add M-Pesa Xpress Billing to your Google Pay account below:

1. Open the Google Play Store on your Android Phone
2. Tap your profile icon in the top right corner and select “Payments & subscriptions.”
3. In the Payments settings, find the “Payment methods” option.
4. Look for the option to add a new payment method and proceed to Choose “M-Pesa Xpress” from the list of available options.
5. Next, you will be prompted to enter your M-Pesa phone number and other relevant details. Make sure that the information is correct to avoid any issues in the future.
6. After entering your details, you will receive a verification code via SMS. Enter this code in the provided field to confirm your number.
7. Once verified, follow any additional prompts to finalize the setup. Once done, you will receive a last SMS message that M-Pesa Xpress Billing has been successfully added.

Making Your First Purchase

Once you’ve successfully linked your M-Pesa number with the Play Store, you can buy any applications from the store you want. Here is a quick process that you can follow:

• Open the Android Google Play Store on your phone and use the search bar to locate any app that you want to purchase
• Once you locate an app, tap on it to view more of its details,s including its Price in Kenyan Currency (Ksh)
• Next, Proceed to buy by tapping on the Install button. You will then be prompted to choose a payment method. Select “M-Pesa Xpress.”
• Next, you will need to confirm the Purchase. Do so, and immediately, you will receive a prompt on your phone requiring you to enter your M-Pesa Pin to finalize the buying process.
• After the purchase, you will receive a confirmation message from M-Pesa confirming that your transaction was successful. Then, you can download the paid app on your phone.

Common Issues you may face and their Solutions

From the second image attached above, you can see a message saying M-Pesa Express is unavailable. These are some of the common issues that you may encounter while using the Service. In my case, I purchased the app directly via my Laptop. If you want to avoid the issue of M-Pesa Express being unavailable, I suggest that you use your Android phone to make the Purchase.

Other common issues that Kenyans have reported with using the tool are

 Issue 1: MPESA XPress billing is not appearing in the Payment options.

Solution: This issue is caused by having a Dual SIM at the time of the purchase. To solve it, remove one line and ensure that your Safaricom number is in use only.

Issue 2: Purchase Confirmation takes too long to appear

A slow internet network causes this issue. For best results, consider using Safaricom data for purchase or even switching to a strong Wi-Fi connection.

If you have done the above and still can’t get the needed results by clearing the app cache on your phone. You can do this by navigating to the settings app for your phone>> search for Apps>>Selct Google Play Store and tap on Clear Cache. Also, try restarting your Android smartphone for the changes to take full effect.

FAQs

Final Thoughts

It’s our hope that these guides have helped you easily add the M-Pesa express billing service to your Google platform on your Android phone. Remember, all that you need is to own an Android phone and make sure that you have an M-Pesa account. If you are still having any issues even after reading the guide, please let us know in the comment section below, and we will help you.