PayPal and Venmo finally talk to each other. That’s genuinely exciting news for anyone who’s ever fumbled around asking friends which app they use before splitting a bill.
But before you start sending money back and forth between the two platforms, there’s one privacy setting you should check first. Skipping it could leave your account more visible than you’d like.
PayPal and Venmo Are Now Connected
The two apps have shared the same parent company since PayPal bought Venmo back in 2014. For years, though, they operated completely independently. You couldn’t send money from one to the other without jumping through hoops.
That’s changed. A recent update now lets you search for a Venmo user directly from your PayPal app, and vice versa. Find the person you’re looking for, tap a few times, and the money moves. Simple.
So splitting dinner or paying back a friend no longer depends on both of you using the same app. That’s a real quality-of-life improvement.
The Visibility Problem Worth Knowing About
Here’s where things get a little tricky. It appears that PayPal users can find any Venmo account simply by searching a phone number. That’s a wide-open door.
Longtime Venmo users will remember the platform’s messy history with public payment feeds. For years, every transaction you made was visible to your entire social network by default. Venmo has improved that over time, but the underlying tension between social features and privacy never fully went away.
This new cross-platform search raises a similar concern. If anyone with your phone number can find your Venmo profile through PayPal, that creates real potential for spam or targeted scams. It’s not a dramatic security flaw, but it’s the kind of small gap that bad actors tend to exploit quickly.
How to Adjust Your Find Me Settings
Venmo is adding a dedicated privacy control to handle exactly this situation. Here’s how to get to it once the update rolls out:
- Open your Venmo app
- Tap the gear icon to open Settings
- Select Privacy
- Navigate to Find Me options
- Restrict who can find you via PayPal
One important note: Venmo is rolling this feature out in November, so you may not see it yet. Check back after the update drops and adjust the setting before doing any cross-platform transfers.
Why Bother Changing This?
You might be thinking this sounds overly cautious. But privacy settings on payment apps are worth taking seriously. These accounts connect directly to your bank or card details, and your profile often includes your real name and photo.
Limiting who can find you doesn’t hurt anything. You can still send and receive money from friends. Plus, the people who already know your PayPal or Venmo handles can still reach you just fine. The only thing you’re blocking is strangers who happen to have your phone number from discovering your payment profile without your knowledge.
It’s a small step. But it’s the kind of thing that’s easy to set once and then never think about again.
Don’t Wait Too Long on This One
The PayPal and Venmo integration is a genuinely useful update, and it’s worth using once you’ve got your settings sorted. Cross-platform payments between two of the biggest apps in this space make everyday money transfers much less annoying.
Just make sure you visit those Find Me settings once the November update arrives. A few seconds of configuration now can save you from unwanted contact later. Get that locked down first, then enjoy the convenience of finally being able to pay friends no matter which app they prefer.
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