Hidden risks: shared friends lists on Venmo

Whole categories of online attacks rely on understanding your most important relationships, and how you spend your time. With that type of information, bad actors can:

• Identify who in your life to swarm with threats
• Try to get you fired by sending what looks like evidence of buying drugs to your employer
• Figure out who your mom is
• Show up at your monthly nail appointment

And on Venmo, not only is that relationship information public by default, the place to turn it off is hidden in a submenu on the mobile app. 

Fortunately, we found it, and we’re here to help you do the same. 

How to manually hide your friends list on Venmo

You'll first need to log into the Venmo mobile app — this setting doesn’t exist on their desktop website at all.

1. Open the Venmo mobile app.

2. Tap “Me” in the bottom right corner.

3. Tap the gear icon in the top right corner.

4. Tap “Privacy”.

5. Under "More", tap “Friends List”.

6. Under "My Friends List", select “Private”.

7.  Toggle off “Appear in Other Users' Friends Lists”

And while you’re at it, go turn off automatic friending and make all your past and future payments private. 

Don’t want to hunt down all those settings? Block Party can help speed things up with expert recommendations and automations to get it done fast.