The Venmo app is a great social and payment app built for the future of cashless payments. You can send money directly from your smartphone, split invoices, and send gifts to your friends and family. By removing barriers and providing an interface that minimizes user clicks, Venmo distinguishes itself from other competitors in the digital wallet space. It has an amazing feature that allows you to add friends to the app to ensure that your money is flowing in the right direction.
This is how you can add friends to the Venmo friend list and save them to perform transactions directly with them without fumbling for their account numbers. This reduces the chance of making mistakes with the account you want to send money to or make payments to. With this feature, you can send money to a specific friend without having to walk through several settings and steps. Now the question is how can you add friends to Venmo? Or does Venmo automatically add friends? Whatever others may say, the procedures are simple and have alternatives for users’ convenience. So, keep reading.
Does Venmo Add Friends Automatically?
Yes, Venmo automatically adds friends to your account. The Venmo app on your phone will ask for permission to access your contacts when you open it for the first time. The Venmo app will automatically include all Venmo contacts in your contact list once you grant access. You can then start sending money to your contacts as soon as you sync and add them to your Venmo account.
Venmo claims that it adds friends automatically to make the user’s experience more convenient. As a result, you can pay an existing Venmo friend without requesting his Venmo ID if he has already been added to your Venmo account.
How Does Venmo Automatically Add Friends?
Venmo requires you to ask your friends for their Venmo ID to search for them. There is no guarantee that you will be able to follow your friend’s ID though, especially if it contains too many symbols and underscores.
Adding friends to Venmo traditionally involves a lot of steps, making it a time-consuming process, especially when you want to add several people at once.
Fortunately, Venmo automatically imports your friends’ lists into the application with a few options. First, it asks for your contacts when you launch the app for the first time. In case you change your mind later, you can grant access to your account even if you declined access first. It doesn’t stop here, however, as Venmo also allows you to add your friends to social networking sites. If you have a Facebook account, you can also link it to Venmo. A single tap is all it takes for you to send and receive money from your Facebook friends.
It’s a good idea to connect your social media accounts to Venmo if you’re new to the service. It is important to note that adding friends via your contacts or Facebook account works both ways. So, if you add someone to your Venmo friend list, they will also see you there.
How To Add A Friend On Venmo
There are a few ways to add friends, including manually through the search option or, as I mentioned automatically through your phone’s contacts or Facebook friends list. Using their QR codes is another way to add friends on the spot. There are a few ways to add someone to your Venmo friend list:
1. Manually Through Venmo Search
The easiest way to add a friend on Venmo is to manually search for them and then friend them. This way, your friend request will be notified, and they’ll have the option to accept or decline.
Here’s how to do it using the Venmo App:
- Open the Venmo App on your phone and then log in using your credentials
- In the top left corner of the screen, tap the three horizontal bars icon.
- Tap on Search People.
- Choose the person you want to add as a friend from the search results by entering their username.
- Finally, tap on the Add Friend option.
- Your Venmo friend list gets updated with the new name once the person accepts your friend request.
Here’s how to do it with Venmo Web:
- Open venmo.com in your browser.
- Go to your account and log in
- From the left menu, click on Search.
- Here you will enter the name of the person who is also using Venmo and you want to add as a friend.
- Then navigate to Add Friend and click it.
2. By Facebook Contacts
Venmo also lets you add friends via your Facebook account. It syncs all your Facebook contacts to Venmo. Venmo will be able to access your Facebook friends list directly, so you won’t have to search for them individually. Here’s how to do it:
- Open the Venmo app and log in to your account
- Simply scroll to the bottom right corner of the page and tap on the Profile icon.
- For Settings, tap the Gear icon.
- Then, tap on the Friends & Social option.
- Last but not least, turn on Facebook Contacts.
3. By Phone Contacts
Venmo lets you add friends manually by using your phone’s contacts if you didn’t permit it previously. Follow these steps for another simple and quick way to do it:
- Open the Venmo app and go to the home screen.
- Now, go to the top-left corner and select the three horizontal bars icon.
- Then choose Settings from the menu.
- Finally, turn on Phone Contacts under Adding Friends in the Friends & Social section by tapping the toggle next to it.
4. Using a QR code
Venmo also provides users with a QR code and a QR code scanner. By using this method, you can easily add a friend to your Venmo friend list when you’re face-to-face with them. Simply put your Venmo code scanner on your friend’s phone screen and scan the QR code on the app. It’ll take you right to their profile, where you can request them, and then the friend will just have to accept the request to be your Venmo friend.
What Is The Process For Syncing Contacts On Venmo?
When you sync your contacts with Venmo, it will automatically display any of your contacts who are also Venmo users.
- You can sync your contacts with Venmo by tapping on the “Contacts” tab at the bottom of the app and then selecting “Sync Contacts”.
- Then, Venmo will ask for your permission to access your contact list. Once you permit Venmo to access your contacts list you will automatically be able to see any of your contacts who are also Venmo users.
Besides, Venmo allows you to sync your social media contacts only if you have a Facebook account associated with the app. The Venmo app allows you to manually add friends even if you do not have a Facebook account.
Will Venmo Notify Them If I Add A Friend?
Venmo will notify the person when you send them a friend request through the app by searching for them. Venmo will then send notifications to them informing them of the request. They will be given the option of accepting or rejecting the request. Alternatively, Venmo will automatically accept your request if you add a person through a phone number, a Facebook account, or a QR code.
How To Accept A Friend Request On Venmo?
When someone manually adds you to Venmo, you’ll get a notification. Here’s what you need to do if you accept their friend request:
- On your smartphone, sign in to the Venmo app and select the three horizontal bar icons in the upper left corner.
- Then tap on the Notifications option.
- The notification will show the name of the person who sent you the friend request.
- Here, you can add them to your Venmo friend list by tapping Confirm.
Does Venmo Let Others See My Friend List?
By default, Venmo’s friend list is visible to everyone, but users can hide it in the settings. The Venmo Privacy Settings let you choose whether the visibility is Public, Friends, or Private.
How Can I Make My Friend List Private?
Venmo makes your friends list public by default, so anyone can view it. The good news is that you do not have to leave things that way. You can easily customize the privacy settings on your Venmo account and decide how much information you would like to share with others.
The following steps will walk you through the process of changing your privacy settings on Venmo:
- Be sure that you are running the most recent version of the Venmo app on your iOS or Android device.
- From the top left-hand corner of the screen, select the hamburger menu icon.
- The screen will display a list of options, including “Settings” at the top. To access the settings page, tap on that link.
- You will then need to select “Privacy” to proceed.
- If you tap the “Friends List” option, you will be able to see all the contacts you have in Venmo, so the privacy settings you choose will be applied to all the contacts in your Venmo network.
- On the same page, you will find an option to make your friends list private, which you should select.
- You also have the option of removing yourself from others’ friend lists.
What To Do If You Want To Remove Friends From Venmo?
Your friend list will save you time when sending or requesting money, and you’ll know your money will get to the right place. You can add multiple people at once by syncing your contacts or Facebook friends with Venmo. You can search for someone’s profile and send a friend request or scan their QR code to add them. But the problem arises when someone stays on your Venmo friend list but you don’t feel safe with them or you don’t want them for some reason. Luckily, Venmo allows this feature to remove friends from your Venmo list. To do so:
- Open your Venmo app from your phone and navigate to the Friends List
- Now, select the contact you want to remove from the list
- Then go to the Contact’s profile, and tap the Unfriend option to remove the person from your Venmo network.
- From now on, you will not be able to see the person, nor will the person be able to contact you through Venmo.