How to keep your Venmo account private

Mar 27, 2025 09:57 PM - 4 weeks ago 36250

Barbara Krasnoff is a reviews editor who manages how-tos and various projects. She’s worked arsenic an editor and writer (and occasional sci-fi author) for much years than she cares to admit to. She tin beryllium recovered connected Threads arsenic @barbarask.

As if things weren’t embarrassing capable for nationalist information advisor Michael Waltz, what pinch inviting a journalist into a backstage argumentation group chat and all, Wired discovered that his Venmo relationship was wide open, revealing the names of “hundreds of Waltz’s individual and master associates.”

Venmo is simply a celebrated and convenient measurement to transportation money to friends and vendors, but it’s a bully thought to support it arsenic closed down arsenic possible, arsenic it is pinch immoderate online banking institution. To support your Venmo relationship arsenic unafraid arsenic you can, present are immoderate ways to debar exposing your contacts, and your account, to nationalist scrutiny — aliases worse.

Check and alteration your privateness settings

Public, Friends, Private, and respective much options beneath. On the right, Friends List, pinch options for Public, Friends, and Private.

Tap connected the Me icon astatine the bottommost correct of the page.
Select the Settings cogwheel astatine the apical correct and past prime Privacy.
You’ll spot 3 settings: Public (visible to everyone connected the internet!), Friends (visible to the contacts of the sender and the recipient), and Private (visible to the sender and recipient only). Make judge that Private is checked.

Keep successful mind that if you’ve established immoderate Venmo Groups (as the sanction suggests, groups of contacts), immoderate transactions utilizing that characteristic will beryllium visible to everyone successful the group.

You whitethorn besides want to support your past transactions hidden.

Go to Me > Settings > Privacy.
Under More, pat connected Past Transactions.
Select Change All to Private. That intends each your transactions will now beryllium (hopefully) hidden from everyone but the sender and recipient.

And do you really want everyone to beryllium capable to spot each your listed contacts?

Go to Me > Settings > Privacy.
Under More, pat connected Friends List.
Select Private truthful that your friends database will only beryllium visible to you.
If you want to enactment retired of different people’s friends database (just successful lawsuit they’re foolish capable to person their lists public), toggle disconnected Appear successful different users’ friends lists.

You tin besides take to hide your location from the app by going to Me > Settings > Privacy > Location and switching the app permissions.
Any of these settings tin beryllium changed for circumstantial transactions; this will not impact different transactions aliases settings.
When you first instal Venmo, you whitethorn beryllium asked if you want to sync the app pinch your interaction list. Unless you scheme to nonstop money to a batch of your contacts, it’s astir apt champion to opportunity no.

It’s besides bully to cognize that, erstwhile dealing pinch 2 accounts, Venmo will default to the much backstage setting. For example, according to Venmo, “if you nonstop a costs and people it Public, but the recipient has their default assemblage group to Private, that costs will still beryllium backstage and only beryllium visible to you and the recipient.”