Venmo’s biggest makeover in years: what’s changing

Venmo redesign – Venmo is rolling out its biggest refresh since 2021, with a revamped feed, new tabs, and expanded rewards—arriving amid PayPal’s shakeup.
Venmo is rolling out its biggest makeover in years. and it’s landing at a moment that can’t help but raise eyebrows.. The peer-to-peer payments app says the changes are designed to make it more useful. more social. and easier to navigate. with the overhaul beginning this week and reaching all users by fall.. For anyone who’s grown used to Venmo as a place to watch who paid whom. the updates signal a shift toward features that try to surface more of what the app can do.
Venmo’s timing is particularly striking because PayPal. which owns Venmo. is restructuring in a way that could set up Venmo to spin out as a standalone business unit.. The move has been widely interpreted as potential groundwork for a sale. and there has been separate reporting that Stripe has shown interest in buying PayPal outright.. In that context. a high-visibility product redesign can look less like a routine refresh and more like a carefully staged improvement before major business decisions.
The rollout begins this week, with additional features arriving over the next few months.. Venmo expects the full redesign to be available to all users by the time fall arrives.. Alongside the bigger interface changes. the update focuses on reducing friction—both in finding key actions and in discovering functions that many people appear to overlook.
One of the first changes starting this week is a revamped feed.. The earlier version emphasized a straightforward view of payments. complete with engagement elements such as GIFs. a heart button. and comments.. The new feed is set to bring a wider range of visuals and larger images. and it also expands how users can respond to payments.. Reactions and quick action buttons such as “Pay Again” and “Say Thanks” are part of the update. turning the feed into something closer to a social stream than a simple activity log.
Venmo is also aiming to make the feed feel more tailored.. The company says the feed will surface personalized cashback offers from brands users shop with. and it will include product suggestions based on prior purchases.. Rather than keeping promotional offers separate from payment activity, the redesign pulls more of that discovery into the same experience.
Another new capability connects the feed to local commerce.. Starting in the feed under payments, users will be able to endorse favorite nearby businesses directly through the app.. Venmo is introducing a “Give a Shoutout” button. positioning it as a way for people to signal support in a format that resembles social engagement.
Alexis Sowa. Venmo’s senior vice president and general manager. said the company often hears from Gen Z and younger audiences about wanting to support and endorse local businesses they like.. With the feed redesign. Venmo frames this as “social proofing. ” where users can effectively give a thumbs up and communicate. in a social way. that they go to a business.
Looking beyond the feed, Venmo is also reshaping navigation with new tabs rolling out over the coming months. The “Send” and “Money” tabs are expected to arrive as part of the broader transition, and each one concentrates different parts of the app’s functionality.
In the Send tab. Venmo is making frequent contacts easier to reach by placing the people you use most often front and center as a row of profile icons.. The change is intended to eliminate the need to dig through past contacts or search for names when you’re trying to pay someone quickly.. The Send area is also where bill splitting is described as easier to access. with the Groups feature allowing splitting expenses with up to 30 people.
Venmo says users will also be able to send gifts to friends and schedule payments from within the Send section. That emphasis on convenience is part of the redesign’s larger goal: turning payment actions into something you can complete quickly without hunting through menus.
The Money tab is positioned as the place to manage expenses, with additional features grouped there as well.. Venmo says the Money tab will be where users can access Teen Accounts and Crypto. keeping those elements closer to the account management experience rather than scattering them across the app.
A separate Rewards tab is also planned, intended to pull limited-time offers into one place.. This is where Venmo’s Stash program will live after the redesign.. The Stash feature. launched last November. provides users with up to 5% cash back when they shop with favorite brands through the app. with the cash back deposited directly to a Venmo Mastercard Debit Card.
Venmo’s redesign wasn’t built purely around new features—it followed what the company describes as a year of user research.. Sowa said one major finding was how many features and functionalities exist in the app that customers simply don’t know are available.. That points to a product that may have accumulated capabilities over time without always making them discoverable. and the makeover appears focused on bringing those hidden options into clearer view.
The changes also mirror a broader shift in how younger users expect payment apps to work.. Instead of functioning only as utility tools for sending money, the redesign reflects an appetite for social-style experiences.. Venmo is effectively trying to compete with platforms where users can follow friends’ spending behavior. and it aligns itself with the idea that financial activity can be presented with the engagement mechanics of a social feed.
Similar expectations appear in other apps and fintech products. including Verse and Daylight. which offer ways for users to keep up with friends’ spending.. In Europe, Revolut has been cited for features such as group bill splitting and in-app chat.. Venmo’s update lands in that same ecosystem, where payments increasingly blur with communication and community.
The common thread across all these changes is discoverability and visibility: users want to see and share financial activity the way they would on other feeds. and Venmo is clearly moving to meet that expectation.. With PayPal’s restructuring and potential sale dynamics hanging in the background. the app’s redesign may also be interpreted as an effort to strengthen its appeal and user experience before a future ownership shakeup.
Venmo redesign peer-to-peer payments PayPal spin-off rewards and cashback crypto access bill splitting