If you use mobile money in Rwanda, you use USSD codes, whether you know the term or not. Every time you dial something starting with a star and ending with a hash, that is USSD. It is how most payments in the country actually happen.
This is a complete reference for the MTN MoMo and Airtel Money codes you will use most, what each one does, and how to avoid memorising them.
Pebla does these same payments without the dialling. You pick what you want to do, enter a number and an amount, and confirm, and Pebla builds and runs the correct code for you. The list below is for when you want to dial directly; the app is for when you would rather not.
What USSD codes are
USSD is the menu system you reach by dialling a short code like *182#. It works on any phone, needs no internet, and runs straight through your network. That is why mobile money in Rwanda is built on it: it works offline, on any handset, anywhere there is signal.
The trade-off is that the codes are long, the sequences are easy to get wrong, and a single payment can mean dialling a string like *182*1*1*number*amount*PIN# from memory. Powerful, but not friendly.
The MTN MoMo codes you will use most
MTN's main menu is *182#. From there you can do everything below by following the prompts, but the direct codes are faster once you know them.
- Check your MoMo balance:
*182*6*1*PIN# - Send money to another number:
*182*1*1*receiver number*amount*PIN# - Pay a vendor's MoMo code:
*182*8*1*vendor code*amount*PIN# - Buy airtime for yourself:
*182*2*1*1*1*amount*PIN# - Buy airtime for another MTN number:
*182*2*1*1*2*amount*number*PIN# - Pay your water bill (WASAC):
*182*3*5#then follow the prompts (you will need your meter number) - Buy electricity (cash power):
*720*1#then follow the prompts (you will need your meter number) - Check airtime balance:
*131# - Buy a data bundle:
*345#then choose your package
The Airtel Money codes you will use most
Airtel's main menu is *500#, and the structure mirrors MTN. From the menu you can send money, buy airtime and bundles, pay bills, and check your balance by following the prompts.
- Airtel Money menu:
*500# - Check airtime balance:
*131# - Activate bundles and check data:
*255#
The problem with codes
The codes work. The trouble is everything around them.
You have to remember which sequence does what. Sending money, paying a vendor, and buying airtime are three different strings, and they are easy to confuse. You also have to enter the right number and amount mid-sequence, with no way to check before you confirm, so a mistyped digit can send money to the wrong person. And none of it leaves you a usable record. You get an SMS, it joins the pile, and a month later you have no idea what you spent.
For a system that handles most of the country's payments, that is a lot of friction to carry in your head.
A faster way to do the same things
This is the gap Pebla fills. Instead of dialling a sequence, you pick what you want to do, enter a number and an amount, and confirm. Pebla builds the correct USSD string and runs it for you. You still use the same underlying mobile money rails, MTN and Airtel, and it still works offline. You just stop memorising codes and stop guessing whether you typed them right.
Buying airtime goes from a multi-step code to a few taps. Paying a vendor means entering their code and the amount, with the figures visible before you confirm. Sending money is the receiver and the amount, checked on screen first.
The other thing it changes is the record. Because Pebla reads your mobile money SMS on Android, every payment you make is automatically sorted into categories, so the same actions that used to vanish into your messages now add up into a clear picture of your spending. That is the difference between doing a transaction and understanding your money.
The short version
Save this page. The codes above cover almost everything you will need day to day on MTN MoMo and Airtel Money in Rwanda. Keep them for the moments you want to dial directly.
For everything else, the daily paying, topping up, and splitting, doing it through Pebla is faster, harder to get wrong, and leaves you with a record you can actually read.
Download Pebla on the App Store and Google Play.
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