Venmo Finally Fixes Its Privacy Settings—Here’s What Changed
For years, sending money through Venmo meant your transactions could be seen by anyone who happened to browse the app’s public feed. That default was flagged as an “alarming” privacy risk as early as 2018, but it took eight years for the company to change course. Now, Venmo is finally making transactions private by default. Here’s what you need to know and how to check your own settings.
What Happened
Venmo has announced that it will switch the default privacy setting for all new transactions from “public” to “private.” Previously, unless a user manually changed the setting, every payment or request was visible to anyone—along with any note attached. That meant your coffee run or rent split could show up in search results and be seen by strangers.
The change follows persistent criticism, including a 2018 BuzzFeed News investigation that described the default public feed as “alarming” and highlighted how easy it was to scrape transaction data. Venmo’s parent company, PayPal, had promised improvements over the years, but only now is the default shifting.
It’s worth noting that the rollout date hasn’t been confirmed yet. Venmo has said the new setting will be enforced “soon,” so some users may not see the change immediately. Existing transactions that were public will remain visible unless you go back and change them individually.
Why It Matters
For anyone who uses Venmo regularly, this is a meaningful improvement to digital privacy. Payment apps handle sensitive information—names, amounts, and often a note describing the purpose of the transfer. Making that data public by default was out of step with how most people expect their financial activity to be treated.
The change also reduces the risk of surveillance or doxxing. Journalists and security researchers have pointed out that Venmo’s public feed could be used to track political donations, location patterns, or personal relationships. While a dedicated attacker could still find ways to infer information, removing the default public setting closes the easiest door.
Still, it’s important to understand what this fix does and doesn’t do. If you have old transactions that were public, they stay public until you manually update them. And you can still choose to make individual transactions public—for example, if you’re collecting donations for a group event and want visibility. The change simply makes private the default, not the only option.
What Readers Can Do
Even after the update takes effect, it’s a good idea to check your own settings. Here’s how:
- Open the Venmo app and tap the three-line menu icon (or your profile picture) in the top-right corner.
- Go to Settings by tapping the gear icon.
- Select “Privacy.” You’ll see options for “Default Privacy Setting.” Make sure it’s set to “Private.”
- Review past transactions by tapping “Past Transactions.” You can choose to change all of them to private at once—Venmo added that bulk option a few years ago. If you want to keep any specific transaction public, you can adjust it individually after the bulk change.
- Check your friends list. Under the same Privacy menu, you can also control who can see your friends list. Setting that to “Private” or “Friends” adds another layer.
If you want to leave a transaction public for a specific reason, you can override the default each time you send or request money. Just tap the lock or audience icon before hitting pay.
Sources
- BuzzFeed News, “Venmo’s Public Feed Is An ‘Alarming’ Privacy Risk,” 2018.
- Venmo official blog and support pages (as of May 2026).
- Coverage from 9to5Mac, “Venmo privacy finally being fixed eight years after ‘alarming’ fails,” May 2026.
The exact timing of the forced default change is still unconfirmed by Venmo as of this writing, so keep an eye on your app for notification of the update. In the meantime, the steps above will keep your current and future transactions as private as you want them.