PesaTrack Get on Play

Updated 15 September 2026

SMS not detected

Checklist for when a new M-PESA or NCBA SMS arrives but no expense appears in PesaTrack.

Quick checks

Run through these in order. Each one takes under a minute.

1. Is the SMS permission granted?

Android Settings → Apps → PesaTrack → Permissions → SMS. If it reads Denied or Ask every time, tap Allow.

Some Android updates reset SMS permission silently. If detection stopped after an OS update, this is usually why. See Granting SMS permission for the full flow.

2. Is the sender exactly “MPESA” or “NCBA”?

PesaTrack matches on sender name. Safaricom occasionally routes some marketing SMS through senders like Safaricom or M-Sasa — those are ignored on purpose. Real transaction SMS come from MPESA.

Some phones display the sender in lowercase or with a suffix (e.g. MPESA - Safaricom). Both still match. If the sender is something else entirely, that message is not a transaction SMS.

3. Is battery optimisation restricting PesaTrack?

Xiaomi, Oppo, Huawei, Samsung (One UI), and some other vendors kill background receivers aggressively. Fix:

Android Settings → Apps → PesaTrack → Battery → Unrestricted.

On MIUI/HyperOS phones, also toggle Autostart on for PesaTrack.

4. Send yourself a test

Send KES 10 to a friend (or yourself, if your line supports it). The SMS should arrive, and within a second an expense should appear on the Home screen.

If the SMS arrives but no expense appears, the parser did not recognise the format — proceed to the next section.

The SMS arrived but no expense

If step 4 fails, the message body may be in an unrecognised format. Safaricom and NCBA occasionally roll out new phrasings.

Please email support with:

  • The app version (Settings → About).
  • The exact SMS body, redacting any sensitive names or numbers you don’t want shared. Leave amounts and the transaction code — those help match the parser to the format.
  • Your phone model and Android version.

Format changes are usually fixed in the next release.

The SMS never arrived

If the SMS itself does not arrive in your messaging app, the issue is with your network or SMS delivery — not PesaTrack. Contact Safaricom / NCBA.