How to Keep Your Venmo Account Private and Secure [Updated]
Venmo is handy, but the app comes with a privacy risk if not configured correctly. Fortunately, Venmo is releasing a new design for its mobile app that should make its use less sensitive to privacy.
The most notable change is the infamous Global Feed: Venmo has ditched it entirely. That’s right – you no longer see a long list of random transactions between strangers when you open the app. There is still a “social” channel that lists all the recent public transactions your friends have made, but it is less intrusive than the global channel.
Losing the global channel is a win for privacy-conscious users, but there are other issues that the redesign couldn’t address.
For example, the new app still automatically links to your Facebook and phone contacts. And users can still search and view other Venmo profiles, even if they are not in each other’s friend lists. If someone finds you, they will see all of your friends and the past publicly available transaction history. Even President Biden is not immune .
Publishing your information allows scammers, thieves and other questionable types to target you, but you can easily avoid (much of) unwanted attention by enabling Venmo’s strictest privacy settings.
- Open the app and tap the three-line menu icon in the upper right corner.
- Go to Settings> Privacy and set the default privacy setting to Personal. This makes all future transactions private between you and the other person, unless you manually change the settings during the exchange.
- Then click on Past Transactions and select Change All to Private. The Change to Friends option is better than keeping past transactions public, but the safest thing to do is to make them all private.
- Then go to Settings> Friends & Social .
- Disable any auto-friend options you don’t want to use. You can also turn off the connection to your Facebook account.
Deleting and blocking contacts in Venmo
While closing your profile, friend list, and transaction history will help prevent strangers from finding or contacting you, it will not stop unwanted attention from people on your Venmo friend list. Fortunately, you can quickly remove someone from your friends list:
- Go to your interlocutor’s Venmo profile.
- Select Friends, then click Remove Friends .
If a person continues to contact you, or some random user continues to send you spam, you can block that person in the Venmo app. Blocked users cannot find you in search results, see you in their feed, or ask you for money. Here’s how:
- Go to your user profile page in the Venmo app.
- Tap the “…” icon in the upper right corner.
- Select “Block”.
- Close and restart the application for the lock to take effect.
- You can view (or unblock) blocked accounts on your blacklist under Settings> Block Users.
How to change your Venmo profile information
If you truly want to become anonymous, you can change your profile information — for example, your name, account username, and contact email address — under Settings> Edit Profile . You can also update your phone number under Settings> Change Phone Number. Note that these changes will make it harder for friends and family to find you.
How to protect your device and login information
These changes will make your profile and transaction history more private, but it won’t prevent anyone from using the app if they get hold of your phone, or possibly logging in from a different location if they know your login information. Luckily, there are several security options in Venmo’s settings menu to make your account more secure. The best option is to create a PIN for Venmo transactions and other activities under Settings> PIN & Biometric Unlock. You can also set up biometric verification of PayPal transactions from this menu.
If you suspect someone else is using your account, you can view a list of other devices using your Venmo profile and sign out of unwanted locations under Settings> Stored devices. You should also change your password under Settings> Change Password.
These settings changes will help keep your Venmo account more secure, but even the toughest, completely anonymous accounts are vulnerable to eavesdropping by hackers spying on public networks. Avoid making transactions over public Wi-Fi connections, as they are often insecure and easy to use . A mobile VPN can help, but you also need to be careful with that .
This post was originally published on 5/18/2021 and updated on 7/27/2021 now that the Venmo app removes the global public feed and adds more information about blocking and removing users from Venmo’s friends list.
[ CNET ]