If you’re like most people, you probably have a few friends on your Venmo account who you can easily contact if something goes wrong. But what if you don’t want those friends to know about your transactions? There are a few ways to make your Venmo account private so that only your chosen friends can see your transactions. You can set up a password protector on your account, or use an app like Stripe to encrypt and store all of your transactions in a secure database. Whatever way you choose, make sure that all of your Venmo friends are aware of the change and be sure to keep them updated on any new developments.
Yes, Everyone Can See Your Friends List
Thankfully, as of June 2021, Venmo now offers more privacy settings, and you can finally hide your friends list—if you want. However, everyone’s friends list is public by default. If you don’t change this setting, anyone can see your friends list.
How to Make Your Friends List Private
To get started, launch the Venmo app on your iPhone or Android phone.
Open the Venmo app and head to the home screen. Tap the menu icon in the upper-right corner.
Tap “Settings” near the bottom of the menu screen.
Tap “Privacy,” and then tap “Friends List” near the bottom of the screen.
If you don’t see the Friends List option under “More,” try updating the app from the App Store (on iPhone) or in Google Play (on Android).
On the Friends List screen, choose the “Private” option. Make sure that there’s a blue check mark or blue circle beside the “Private” option—this means that the option is selected.
You can also decide whether you want to appear on other people’s friends lists. By default, this switch is green, indicating that you will appear on other people’s friends lists.
If you don’t want to appear on anyone’s friends list, tap the toggle switch so that the circle is gray and to the left.
Go Private from Facebook and Phone Contacts
Since Venmo aims to be a social network, it wants to have you automatically add your Facebook friends and phone contacts. If you don’t want to be found from your Facebook friends or phone contacts, here’s what to do:
Open the Venmo app and head to the home screen. Tap the menu icon in the upper-right corner.
Tap “Settings” near the bottom of the screen.
Tap “Friends & social” near the bottom of the screen. Then, tap all the toggle switches beside “Facebook,” “Facebook Friends,” and “Phone Contacts.” The switches will turn gray to indicate that the options are off.
Depending on how you signed up with Venmo, you might not have all three options. If you find that you’re still being found from Facebook or your phone contacts, contact Venmo support.
That’s all there is to it! You can now rest at ease knowing that your Venmo friends are private. You might want to make your Venmo transactions private, too.
