Venmo and PayPal can finally talk to each other. As of late 2025 the two apps became natively compatible, and on March 23, 2026 the feature went global — you can now send money from your Venmo app to hundreds of millions of PayPal users across more than 90 countries, in up to 25 currencies, without ever opening PayPal or creating a PayPal account. It’s genuinely useful. But before you send your first cross-app payment, take 60 seconds to change one privacy setting: your default audience.
Here’s why it matters. Venmo has always been a social payments app, and for years accounts were Public by default — meaning your payment notes and activity could be visible to anyone. Now that Venmo is wired into the much larger PayPal network and your phone number is the key that lets people find you, it’s worth locking down who can see your activity and who can look you up.
The One Setting to Change First
Venmo gives every payment one of three visibility levels:
| Setting | Who can see the payment |
|---|---|
| Public | Anyone on the internet may be able to see it |
| Friends only | Your Venmo friends and the other person’s Venmo friends |
| Private | Only you and the other participant, in your personal feed under the Me tab |
The setting that governs every future payment is your default audience. Set it to Private and nothing you send afterward is broadcast to a public feed. To change it:
- Open Venmo and tap the Me tab.
- Tap the Settings gear (top right).
- Tap Privacy.
- Under default privacy, choose Private (or Friends if you still want your circle to see activity).
One helpful safeguard to know: Venmo always applies the more restrictive setting between the two people in a payment. So if you mark a payment Public but the other person’s default is Private, the payment stays private. Setting your own default to Private guarantees your side is always covered.
Don’t Forget Your Past Payments
Changing your default only affects payments going forward. To clean up your history, in the same Settings > Privacy screen scroll to Past Transactions and choose Change All to Private. You can also make any single past payment more private by tapping its privacy label — note you can only make past payments more private, never less.
The Second Setting Cross-App Users Should Check: “Find Me”
Because cross-app transfers work by looking someone up with their phone number, Venmo added Find Me toggles that control who can discover you. This is the setting most directly tied to the new PayPal feature. Find it under Me > Settings gear > Privacy > Find Me, where you’ll see two switches:
- On Venmo — whether Venmo users can find you by phone number.
- On PayPal — whether PayPal users across the network can find you by phone number.
If you’d rather not be discoverable to strangers on the wider PayPal network, turn Find Me on PayPal off. You can still send money out to any PayPal user — this only controls whether people can look you up.
A Worked Example
Say your cousin in Mexico uses PayPal and you want to send her $200 from your Venmo balance for a birthday. Here’s the privacy-smart flow:
- First, set your default audience to Private (one-time step).
- In Venmo, search by her phone number and select her PayPal profile.
- Enter $200. Venmo shows you the currency conversion rate and any fees up front — review the peso amount she’ll receive before you confirm.
- Confirm. Because it’s cross-app, this isn’t a social post to your friends — and with your default set to Private, none of your Venmo activity is broadcast either.
Remember that money only flows one direction right now: you can send to PayPal users, but you cannot request money from them across apps yet.
Fees and Limits to Know
| Scenario | Cost / limit |
|---|---|
| Domestic send from Venmo balance, bank, or debit card | No fee; typically instant |
| Sending a personal payment with a credit card | Standard 3% credit card fee |
| International transfer fee | Waived for a limited time (through August 2026) |
| Currency conversion | A conversion fee/spread applies — always shown up front before you confirm |
| International per-transaction limit | $2,500 |
| International daily / weekly / monthly limits | $5,000 / $10,000 / $25,000 |
Always read the confirmation screen. Venmo is required to display the exchange rate and fees before you complete an international transfer, so you’ll never be guessing at the final amount your recipient gets.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Venmo-to-PayPal payment show up in my public feed?
Your recipient is on PayPal, not a Venmo friend, so cross-app payments don’t behave like a normal social Venmo post. Even so, the safest move is to set your default audience to Private so none of your Venmo activity — cross-app or in-app — is ever broadcast publicly.
Can PayPal users see my transaction history or friends list?
No. Your privacy settings still govern what’s visible, and setting your default to Private plus hiding past transactions keeps your history to yourself. If you don’t want to be discoverable at all, turn off the Find Me on PayPal toggle.
Will making my account private break the cross-app transfer?
Not at all. Privacy settings control who can see your activity and who can find you — they don’t affect your ability to send money. You can be fully private and still send to any PayPal user by phone number.
Can I request money from a PayPal user through Venmo?
Not yet. Cross-app functionality currently supports sending payments only; requests across the two platforms aren’t available at this time.
The Bottom Line
The Venmo↔PayPal connection is a real convenience, especially for sending money internationally with fees shown before you commit. But the feature also plugs you into a far larger network keyed to your phone number. Before your first transfer, take the two minutes to set your default audience to Private, sweep your past transactions to Private, and review your Find Me toggles. Then send away with confidence.
WalletWisp is informational and does not provide financial advice. Fees, limits, and features change — confirm the current details in your Venmo app before sending.
