MTN’s Ayoba app is shutting down

MTN’s Ayoba app, once heralded as Africa’s answer to WhatsApp and WeChat, is shutting down. Users across the continent recently received a message informing them that the app is “entering a new chapter.”

MTN, one of Africa’s biggest telecom companies, launched Ayoba in 2019 with ambitions. The name itself comes from South African slang meaning something “cool” or “all right.” The idea was to build a homegrown African super app that could do everything: chat, video calls, music, games, news, mobile money payments, and more, all in one place. It supported over 22 languages and was active across countries, including Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, and Benin.

MTN customers could use the app for free, with daily data allocations so they could chat and share without dipping into their personal data bundles.

The app’s growth initially looked impressive. By April 2024, it had over 35 million monthly active users. It won awards, expanded into new markets, and MTN was aiming for 100 million users by 2025. But beneath the numbers, cracks were showing.

Its strength was based on distribution through MTN, but it was also a weakness. Free data could bring people in, but it couldn’t manufacture genuine usage. As one analyst put it, once the incentive disappeared, so did the engagement—that’s not product-market fit, that’s subsidized curiosity.

Even in African markets where super apps should thrive, users gravitated to apps that solved one problem well. By 2025, many users were reporting they couldn’t even re-register on the app due to persistent verification errors.

As seen in the message shared with users this week, Ayoba confirmed that from 20 March 2026, the app would no longer be available on app stores. Anyone who uninstalls it after that date won’t be able to get it back. Users were given a 30-day window from 20 February 2026 to download the app one last time if needed, after which downloads would become impossible permanently.

For millions of Africans who used Ayoba for free chats, music, and games, the shutdown marks the end of an attempt to build something homegrown on the continent.

Last updated: March 23, 2026