What is Smilepay and how does it work?

Smilepay is a mobile app for sending money, buying airtime, and paying utility bills instantly to family and friends in Ethiopia. You create a SmileTag or use a bank account to send funds cross-border quickly and securely.

What countries does Smilepay operate in?

Smilepay operates as a cross-border remittance platform facilitating transfers from the United States, Canada, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Ethiopia.

How do I sign up for Smilepay?

Download the Smilepay app from the App Store or Google Play, then sign up with your details and link a bank account or create a SmileTag.

Does Smilepay have a mobile app?

Yes, Smilepay is available on iOS and Android. You can download Smilepay on the App Store for iPhone, or get it on Google Play for Android.

Who is Smilepay best suited for?

Smilepay is best suited for expats, travelers, and diaspora sending money home to Ethiopia, paying bills, or buying airtime.

How do I contact Smilepay support?

For support, send an email to contact@smilepay.com or call +251 11 3022 or +251 64 6485.

Smilepay

🇪🇹 Ethiopia 🇿🇦 South Africa

A mobile app for the Ethiopian diaspora to send cross-border money to Ethiopia, request payments, buy airtime, and pay utility bills from anywhere.

Use it on:Web Android· 4.9 iOS

Is Smilepay right for you?

Best for

Ethiopian diaspora
Sending money to Ethiopia
Paying Ethiopia utility bills
Buying Ethiopia airtime
Requesting money from family

What it does well

Ethiopia money transfers
Paying utility bills abroad
Airtime top-ups for Ethiopia
Payment requests to contacts
Stablecoin-based transfers

Things to check

Sender country options
Available billers in Ethiopia
Airtime network coverage
Stablecoin cash-out flow
Transfer limits and fees

Smilepay is a mobile payments and remittance app for people abroad who need to send money and pay for services for family and friends in Ethiopia.

Key capabilities include:

Cross-border transfers to Ethiopia: send money to Ethiopian bank accounts or to Smilepay users, with support for a SmileTag or bank details.
Request money: ask friends or family abroad to send funds through the app.
Bills and top-ups: pay utility bills and buy airtime for someone back home.
Identity verification: KYC/AML verification designed to complete in under 2 minutes.

Available on Android and iOS.

It primarily serves the Ethiopian diaspora, expats, travelers, and individuals abroad supporting recipients in Ethiopia.

Smilepay is notable in the Ethiopia remittance market because it is licensed by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) for remittance services and integrates with 29 Ethiopian banks (per the research brief), supporting cross-border payments into local financial infrastructure.

As of Jun 29, 2026, Smilepay is rated 4.9 on Google Play from 19 reviews with 1K+ installs.

Social Links:

Categories:

Fintech

Features & Business Model:

b2c bill-payments cross-border-payments remittances stablecoins