If you like to use Venmo to send money to family and friends, you probably use the mobile payment service without thinking much about it.
But did you know that each time you do a transaction three pieces of information — your recipient’s name, the date of your transaction and the purpose of your transaction — go public?
Unless, that is, you know how to turn that unwanted sharing feature off.
Protect Yourself When Using Venmo
Did you know that all Venmo transactions default to being publicly viewable?
When you access the app, you can see a list of names, recipients and recent transactions. Things like movie nights, restaurant bills, baseball games, and even vacations are shared through emojis and notes in the app for everyone to see.
Information like this, while not exactly earth-shattering, could give away your likely location and maybe signal who you’re living with, if you’re splitting any bills, if you’re away on vacation, among other things.
Just about the only key piece of information that is missing is the dollar amount of each transaction!
Turns out it’s pretty easy to limit all the unwanted sharing, and Venmo provides instructions. You have three options:
- Public: Anyone on the internet can see your transactions
- Friends: Your Venmo friends and the other participant’s Venmo friends can see your transactions.
- Private: Only shared on the “Your Stories” tab and the feed of the other person in the payment.
Ready to make your information private? After logging into your account, do the following…
Change Your Default Privacy Setting
For App Users:
- Make sure you have the latest version of the app before starting
- Tap the three-line menu icon in the top right corner
- Tap “Settings”
- Select “Privacy”
- Select “Private” as your preferred default privacy setting under “Default Privacy Settings”
While you’re in there, you can also go ahead and change the default privacy setting for past payments by selecting”Change All to Private: under the “Past Payments” section.
For Desktop Users:
- Log into your account on the Venmo website
- Click “Settings” on the left side of the screen
- Click “Privacy”
- Click “Private” under “Default Privacy Settings”
- Click the “Save Settings” button
You can also make all previous transactions private by selecting “Change All to Private” under “Past Payments” on a desktop.
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