Venmo’s biggest makeover in years comes at a very interesting time

This is the peer-to-peer payments app’s biggest refresh since 2021. PayPal, which owns Venmo, is restructuring to spin Venmo off as a stand-alone business unit — a move widely seen as laying the groundwork for a potential sale. Stripe has reportedly expressed interest in buying PayPal outright.

In that context, a splashy redesign looks less like a routine update and more like a window-dressing job ahead of a transaction. The rollout will begin this week, followed by additional features over the next few months. The entire redesign is expected to be available to all users by this fall.

One of the first changes users will notice starting this week is the revamped feed. Where it once showed a simple list of who paid who — with GIFs, a heart button, and comments — the new feed will feature a wider variety of visuals and larger images, along with more ways to respond to payments, such as reactions and quick action buttons like “Pay Again” and “Say Thanks.” It’ll also be more personalized, surfacing tailored cashback offers from brands you shop from and product suggestions based on previous purchases. Image Credits:Venmo Another addition is the ability for users to endorse their favorite local businesses directly through the app.

A new “Give a Shoutout” button will be available under payments in the feed. As Alexis Sowa, Venmo’s senior vice president and general manager, explained to TechCrunch, “One of the things that we hear a lot, especially from Gen Z and younger audiences, is a real desire to support and endorse local businesses or merchants that they like. With this feed redesign, we’re giving an opportunity for them to share what we call social proofing.

In the future, you will be able to kind of endorse that business — give a thumbs-up, almost to say, ‘I go to you.’” Image Credits:Venmo Two new tabs, “Send” and “Money,” will also launch in the next few months. In the Send feed, your most frequent contacts now appear as a row of profile icons front and center, instead of requiring you to dig through past contacts or user names. The bill-splitting “Groups” feature is now easier to access, too, letting users split expenses with up to 30 people.

You can also send gifts to friends and schedule payments in the Send section. var playerInstance_jwplayer_6a7c6e67d0fca = jwplayer( "jwplayer_6a7c6e67d0fca" ); playerInstance_jwplayer_6a7c6e67d0fca.setup(); The Money tab, meanwhile, is where you can manage your expenses and access Teen Accounts and Crypto. There will also be a new Rewards tab that pulls all limited-time offers in one place. This is also where Venmo’s Stash program will live.