Venmo is one of the most widely used peer-to-peer payment platforms, used for everything from splitting bills to making purchases from both small and large merchants. The app has a number of built-in features that make it easy to manage expenses, collect funds, and keep your data private and money safe along the way, but they’re not always obvious. Here are 10 tips and tricks you can use to get the most out of Venmo.
Make your friends list private to protect your account from scammers
By default, Venmo makes your friends list public, which means it’s visible to anyone logged into Venmo. Scammers can take advantage of this by impersonating people you know—using their names, profile pictures, and similar usernames—and tricking you into sending money to a fake account. To hide this list, go to I > Settings > Privacy > Friends List and tap Private. You can hide your profile from the list of others using the toggle on the same screen.
Update your privacy settings to hide both future and past transactions
Hopefully, your Venmo transactions are already set to private, so no one can see who you’ve paid, how much, and for what purpose. If not, this is the first thing you should update. go to I > Settings > Privacy and change to default Private-Payments are visible only to you and the sender or recipient. Note that this does not hide transactions made up to this point. For that, go to I > Settings > Privacy > Past Transactions and choose Change all to private.
Make your account searchable on PayPal for cross-platform payments
If you need to send or receive payments to or from someone who isn’t on Venmo, you can still do so—if they have PayPal. Venmo and PayPal users can now find and pay each other on the platform by simply searching for an email or phone number. If you need to use this connection, turn on visibility under PayPal Me > Settings > Privacy > Find Me and switch the toggle next to it on paypal.
Turn on app-level biometric lock to prevent others from sending payments
If you ever hand your phone over to someone else to make a call or look something up, you probably don’t want them to have open access to your financial apps. At a minimum, you should keep your Venmo transactions private; You also don’t want to risk someone sending themselves funds from your account. To add an extra layer of security, enable app-level biometrics. go to I > Settings > Login & Security And toggle on the relevant Biometric Lock. Alternatively, you can add a passcode.
Set up recurring payment requests so you don’t have to bug family and friends
If you’re sharing regular, recurring expenses with family and friends—like rent, utilities, or streaming services—you can schedule recurring Venmo requests to automatically send when those bills are due. That way, you don’t have to remember to send out requests manually every week or month, and you don’t have to make mistakes for people to pay them. When you request a payment, press schedule Select button, frequency and duration and choose save.
Use “Venmo Groups” to manage shared expenses without having one person in charge of everything
Alternatively, Venmo Groups allow multiple people – up to 30 – to log, track and split expenses, whether it’s a recurring bill split between several roommates, or multiple transactions related to a one-time event or vacation. Anyone can add expenses to a group, and Venmo will split the total into equal amounts for each member (although this can be edited manually if someone owes more or less). go to I > Create a group > StartThen enter the group name and emoji. You can then invite others to join.
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Split payments across approved merchants so you can send requests for group purchases instantly
If you want to split one-time expenses with others, like concert tickets or takeout, you can use Venmo’s Split feature, which is built right into every transaction. Instead of calculating, creating and sending separate payment requests, Venmo lets you split the total between one or more users and set a custom amount for each request. Note that this option is available when you use Venmo at checkout with certain merchants (such as Ticketmaster and Uber). go to I > TransactionsSelect and tap Purchase division. Follow the prompts to select users, adjust split amounts, and enter notes. Then tap Review Requests > Send Requests.
Set up custom QR codes to collect payments from large groups
Each Venmo user has a personal QR code that sends other users directly to your profile to send or request money. This eliminates the need to search for specific accounts through search. If you have a Venmo Business account, you can set up a price-specific QR code that prefills the transaction amount, so customers can easily pay you the correct amount. This is especially useful if you are collecting entry fees, donations or sales of a specific item at a large event. To generate a price-specific code, go to Charge > QR Code > Venmo me > $ and enter the dollar amount. Then blow Set the amount.
Set up direct deposit to protect your primary checking account
While you may feel comfortable sharing your primary bank information in certain cases—such as with an employer, to make payments—you probably don’t want to hand over your account number to just anyone. You can use your Venmo account instead of receiving direct deposits, so if information is compromised, bad actors won’t have access to your external funds. (For example, I did this to receive settlement payments that required direct deposit.) You’ll get a routing number and account number, and the deposit will be available as a Venmo balance, which you can later transfer to your regular account, if you’d like. go to Go to Me > Settings > Direct Deposit > Set up Direct Deposit.
Link Venmo to a “buffered” checking account to protect against stolen funds
Another option to protect your primary bank account is to set up a secondary checking account to link to Venmo. Keep the minimum funds later, and transfer only what you need from your primary account to cover transactions (these should be at the same institution, so money can move immediately if you have an unexpected purchase). This creates a buffer between your Venmo account and your bank, so if someone gains access to your device or Venmo account, they can’t make large payments. It also creates an extra step for the payment process, which can help slow down and catch scam requests before you fall victim.
