A Makeover That's About More Than Just the App
Venmo is rolling out its most significant redesign in years — one that touches the feed, navigation, social features, and rewards. The rollout kicks off this week, with more features arriving over the next few months, and the full overhaul expected to reach all users by fall. On the surface, it looks like a routine product refresh. But there's a lot more happening underneath.
Here's the thing: PayPal, which owns Venmo, is in the middle of restructuring to spin Venmo off as a standalone business unit. That move is widely read as laying the groundwork for a potential sale. And Stripe has reportedly expressed interest in buying PayPal outright. So when you step back and look at a splashy app makeover landing right in the middle of all that corporate maneuvering, it starts to look less like a product update and more like a window-dressing job ahead of a potential transaction.
That context matters. A lot.
What's Actually Changing in the New Venmo
A Feed That Feels Less Like a Ledger
The most immediately noticeable change is the redesigned home feed. The old version was pretty bare-bones — a scrolling list of who paid whom, with the occasional GIF and a heart button. The new feed leans into richer visuals, with larger images and more ways to respond to payments. Think reactions and quick-tap buttons like "Pay Again" and "Say Thanks."
It also gets more personal. The feed will surface tailored cashback offers from brands you already shop with, plus product suggestions based on your past purchases. That's a meaningful shift — from utility to something closer to a personalized social-commerce experience.
Supporting Local Businesses Through the App
One genuinely interesting new feature is the "Give a Shoutout" button, which shows up under payments in the feed. It's designed to let users publicly endorse local businesses they've paid through the app. Venmo's SVP and general manager, Alexis Sowa, framed it this way: younger users — especially Gen Z — have a real desire to support and endorse local merchants they like. The shoutout feature gives them a way to do that socially, offering a kind of thumbs-up that signals "I go here, and you should too." It's social proofing baked directly into the payment flow.
New Tabs: Send, Money, and Rewards
Two new tabs — "Send" and "Money" — are also on the way. The Send tab puts your most frequent contacts front and center as a row of profile icons, so you're not digging through old payment history just to find someone. The bill-splitting Groups feature gets easier access too, now supporting expenses split among up to 30 people. You can also send gifts to friends and schedule future payments from this tab.
The Money tab is where you'll manage your finances — and it's also home to Teen Accounts and Crypto.
Then there's the new Rewards tab, which consolidates all limited-time offers in one place. That's also where Venmo's Stash program lives. Stash launched last November and gives users up to 5% cash back when they shop with favorite brands inside the app, with money deposited directly to their Venmo Mastercard Debit Card.
Why This Redesign Exists — What the Research Actually Found
Sowa said this redesign came out of a full year of user research. And one of the most striking findings wasn't about what users wanted — it was about what they didn't know existed. A huge number of Venmo's existing features were simply invisible to users. People had no idea they were there.
That's a real product problem. When your app is packed with functionality that nobody can find, the solution isn't to add more features — it's to reorganize around how people actually use the thing. That's essentially what this redesign is attempting to do.
The Bigger Picture: What Younger Users Want From a Payments App
There's a broader trend at work here too. Younger users increasingly don't want a pure utility. They want a social platform that happens to handle money — not the other way around. Apps like Verse and Daylight already let users track their friends' spending behavior. Revolut offers group bill splitting and in-app chat. The expectation has shifted.
Venmo's core audience wants to see and share financial activity the way they'd engage with any other feed. The app is clearly trying to meet that expectation — and, given the corporate backdrop, it's trying to meet it fast.