Venmo Still Isn’t Taking Privacy Seriously
Venmo Still Isn’t Taking Privacy Seriously
Publish Date: 2026-05-12 14:41:00
Source Domain: www.businessinsider.com
Call me a grouch, but I find it really hard to make any compelling argument for why anyone needs to see a feed of their friends’ activity on Venmo.
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Is it really so interesting seeing that your friend paid someone for pizza?
Venmo’s new redesign adds features that lean into that supposed social element. Transactions in your payments feed get larger images and even animated GIFs.
I really wish Venmo would focus more on what users deserve — privacy by default! — instead of more emojis.
The newest update finally does something Venmo should have done at least a decade ago: It makes the default setting for transactions “visible to friends only” instead of “public” for new users when they sign up for the app.
Keep in mind that it isn’t even really private — the default isn’t set to “only me.”
When I put my concerns to Venmo, the company said the new settings give people more choice.
“Venmo customers have full control over what they share and who can see their activity, and the new app experience enhances how customers can manage their privacy settings,” Erin Mackey, a spokesperson for Venmo, told Business Insider. “New users will also default to ‘friends only,’ reflecting what we heard from customers. Whether they prefer to share publicly, with friends, or keep their activity private, privacy settings are easy to find and update at any time.”
When Venmo first launched, having a social…
