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

Venmo will roll out a major redesign over the coming months aimed at making the app more useful, social, and easier to navigate. This is the biggest update to the peer-to-peer payments app since 2021.

The timing is notable. PayPal, which owns Venmo, is restructuring to spin Venmo off as a standalone business unit — a move widely seen as laying the groundwork for a potential sale. Stripe has reportedly expressed interest in buying PayPal outright. In this context, the joyful process of remodeling looks less like a routine update and more like a window dressing task before a transaction.

The rollout will begin this week, followed by additional features over the next few months. By the fall, the entire redesign process is expected to be available to all users.

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 whom — with GIFs, a heart button, and comments — the new feed will feature a variety of visual elements 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 will also be more personalized, showing personalized cashback offers from the brands you shop from and product suggestions based on past purchases.

Another plus is the ability for users to endorse their favorite local businesses directly through the app. The new “Give a Shoutout” button will be available under Payments in the feed.

As Alexis Sowa, senior vice president and general manager of Venmo, explained to TechCrunch, “One of the things we’re hearing a lot of, especially from Gen Z and younger audiences, is a real desire to support and endorse local businesses or merchants that they like. And with this redesign of the feed, we’re giving them an opportunity to share what we call social proofing. And in the future, you’ll be able to kind of endorse that business — like, almost to say, ‘I’m going to you.'”

Two new tabs, Send and Money, will also be launched in the next few months. In the sending feed, your most frequent contacts now appear as a row of profile icons front and center, instead of requiring you to search past contacts or usernames. Accessing the Groups feature for splitting bills is also now easier, allowing users to split expenses with up to 30 people. You can also send gifts to friends and schedule payments in the Send section.

Meanwhile, the Money tab is where you can manage your expenses as well as access your teen and cryptocurrency accounts.

There will also be a new rewards tab that brings together all the limited-time offers in one place. This is where Venmo’s Stash will live. Launched last November, it gives users up to 5% cash back when they shop with their favorite brands in the app, with the money deposited directly into their Venmo Mastercard debit card.

Sawa said the redesign came after a year of user research, and that one of the biggest findings was the number of features people didn’t know existed. “One of the biggest takeaways is the number of features and functionality we have [customers] “I had no idea it was on the app,” she said.

The update reflects a broader trend in what younger users expect from payment apps — less a utility, more a social platform. For example, apps like Verse and Daylight offer features that allow users to track their friends’ spending behavior, and European fintech app Revolut offers features like group bill splitting and in-app chat.

Venmo’s core audience increasingly wants to see and share financial activity the way they do on any other feed, and the app is clearly trying to meet that expectation before a potential new owner comes knocking.