Editor’s Pick: Why Ayoba is Today’s Instant Messaging App of Choice

At the beginning of this month, Ayoba celebrated its 2nd anniversary with an impressive customer base of 5.5 million monthly users, while on the sidelines launched new updates on the Android app that would allow users access to voice and video calling capabilities. The app on the other note celebrated an award for Best Mobile application they achieved in 2020.

Named the Pan African App, thousands of Africans continue to choose Ayoba as their Instant Messaging (IM) app because it offers more than a chatting platform. The app stands to be a competition to other IM apps like; WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger, WeChat to mention a few.

The app is available for use to all users/consumers, but MTN consumers access free instant chatting, because of the telco’s partnership with SIMFY Africa the developers of the Ayoba app. Ayoba also offers a captivating entertainment collection of over 100 content channels bringing news in fashion, technology, beauty, sports, and education. In addition, Ayoba users can also listen to music and play over 120 games and more within the app.

They recently launched an assistant dubbed, ‘Aya’ to help new users on how to use the application.

“We recently launched an in-app assistant called ‘Aya’ to guide new users on how to use an instant messaging app. Aya appears automatically in everyone’s Chats and can run a variety of interactive tutorials for key features within Ayoba,” Ms. Susan Kayemba, MTN Uganda’s Senior Manager, Digital Services, said.

As on one of the Instant Messaging app of choice, it is usable in over 22 languages including English, Luganda, Kinyarwanda, Swahili, Dari, Pashtu, Hausa, Afrikaans, Igbo, Jula, French, to mention a few. Kayemba reiterated that the availability of languages other than English makes it easy for non-English speaking users to use the app.

Ayoba messages are end to end encrypted, giving all users their much-needed privacy. The platform reiterated its focus on protecting its users’ privacy and security. The company reassures its users that it’s not possible for messages in the app to be read by anyone, or shared with any third parties. They claim to prevent potential eavesdroppers from telecom providers, ISPs, or Ayoba – from being able to access the cryptographic keys needed to decrypt the conversation.

Below is a quick guide on how to access some of these services for free on Ayoba.

Listen to music for free!
Elevate your chatting time by listening to some cool music for free while you chat with your friends and family at no cost.

How to; open/launch the Ayoba app.

1. Select Channels.
2. Select Music Time Uganda.
3. Select any playlist of your choice. Click on the “Play” icon and enjoy music played within the app while you chat.

Play games for free!
While waiting for your friends to respond to your messages on Ayoba or may be in a taxi during your daily commute, just launch Ayoba and indulge in any of the more than 120 games. In the Ayoba app, click on the menu icon in the top left-hand corner, then select Games. Go ahead Select any Game category of your choice. Tap on any game that you would like to play. A terms and conditions message will be displayed. Select “OK” to continue to play your game.

Send money without logging out of your app
The app allows in-app MTN mobile money transactions. Avoid the inconvenience of having to leave your chat to open a separate app to send someone money. Ayoba gives you the liberty to send money within the app and carry on with your conversation without the need of closing the app.

Using the app to send money, from the open chat window, tap the attachment symbol, and from the list of tabbed displayed options, select the money option. Proceed to choose ‘Send MoMo’, follow the prompts to complete sending the money. Enter the amount and reason. You, Will, be prompted to enter your MoMo pin. Transaction will be completed, and you will receive an SMS notification.