How to Add a Friend on Venmo

Open the person’s profile in the Venmo app and tap Add Friend. The hard part is usually getting to the right profile, and Venmo gives you three ways to do that: search, a personal QR code, or synced contacts. Syncing contacts does not add anyone for you. You still have to add each person yourself.

Steps to add a friend

1. Find the person’s profile. Use Pay/Request and search by name, Venmo username, phone number, or email. You can also scan their QR code (see below).
2. Check that it is the right person. Names are easy to confuse. A search result alone does not prove identity. If you plan to pay a phone number or email, Venmo advises asking the recipient to confirm it is verified on their Venmo account.
3. Tap Add Friend on their profile.
4. Check your list later. Go to the Me tab and tap the friends tile under your profile picture.

Adding a friend is separate from paying or requesting money. Friending only changes your Friends list. Payments go through Pay/Request.

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Venmo can change its screens and labels, so yours may differ slightly from the names used here.

Add a friend with a QR code

This works well in person, or when you don’t know the other person’s username.

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1. Open Venmo and tap Scan at the top of the screen.
2. Point the camera at the person’s personal Venmo QR code. If they sent you the code as an image, tap the photo icon on the scanner page and pick the saved image.
3. Venmo opens that user’s profile. Tap Add Friend.

Scanning needs camera permission and an internet connection. If it fails, check that nobody involved has blocked the other person. If it still fails, contact your friend outside Venmo.

To share your own code, go to Me, tap the QR-code button on your profile picture, then tap Venmo me. You can send it by text, email, or other methods.

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What syncing contacts does

In Pay/Request or Search, choose Sync your contacts, then Allow. Venmo says the synced names, phone numbers, and email addresses improve search results and support invitations. You can refuse the permission, or turn off Venmo’s access later in your device settings.

Venmo says it stopped automatically adding device contacts as friends in 2022. Every synced contact still has to be added manually.

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Why you might not find someone

• Blocking. Venmo says blocked users cannot find each other in search or interact with each other’s profiles. To unblock someone, go to Privacy in Settings.
• Teen Accounts. These are hidden by default from in-app search for anyone who isn’t already a Venmo Friend. A linked adult can change the account’s search visibility in Teen Account settings. Venmo says non-friends can still reach a Teen Account by QR code or a direct profile link.
• Wrong identifier. Try another one: username, phone number, or email.

Control who sees your friends

Venmo says your Friends list can be visible to all Venmo users, to your Venmo friends only, or private. Change this at Me > Settings > Privacy > Friends List. The same page has a control for whether your profile appears in other people’s friends lists.

Remove a friend

Open your friends list, tap Friends, then tap Unfriend, as described in Venmo’s help.

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