How To Change Your Venmo Username

It’s a tale as old as time, or at least as old as the social media. Your friend tells you about a shiny new app that’s become all the rage overnight, and you download it on a whim thinking that it’s another internet fad to be inevitably discarded when it becomes obsolete in a month. You make your username something random like “HarryStyles4Lyfe,” assuming you’re just making an account for the sake of trying things out. Then, cut to 10 years later, and you’re still using the app every day with the same cringey, haphazard handle as your main identifier. It’s a cycle all-too-familiar to many — whether you’ve found yourself regretting your AIM-esque Snapchat username or cringing at your early Instagram days.

Few apps, however, have been as unexpectedly enduring — and ubiquitous — as Venmo. There are myriad reasons why you might want to change your Venmo username. It could be that, as is the case with many other social media apps, the username you chose when you made your account just no longer fits your personality. However, especially with an online banking app, your reasons for wanting to change your username may be more serious than just the vibe being off.

For one, you might be concerned about privacy and want a more lowkey presence on the app. Or your username might be leaving friends baffled when they go to pay you if it’s not your first and last name or something easy to type in. (That QR scanner code thing helps, though.)

Whatever your reason, I’ve got you covered — like that one friend who always lets you Venmo them for a round of impromptu drinks. Here’s everything you need to know about how to change your Venmo username.

How To Change Your Venmo Username

To change you Venmo username, open Venmo and head to your profile. (The icon looks like a person with a money sign behind it, and is in the bottom right corner of your screen.) Click on the gear icon in the top right corner of your screen to open your Settings, then click Account from the first option in the menu.

Once you’ve open your account menu, click the first option that says Profile. Here, you’ll be able to change your profile picture, first name, last name, username, and email address. Click on your username, and you can then edit the text to any combo of five to 16 characters (no special characters besides - and _, according to Venmo). You’ll want to change it to something that’s recognizable as you, but if you’re concerned about privacy, you can also take this opportunity to change your display name to something more discreet — like Harry S. instead of Harry Styles — so that if your Venmo is public, your full name won’t show up on strangers’ feeds. (You can also make your Venmo profile private by going to Settings, then Privacy.)

Hit save, and your new handle will be ready for action. Take your new username for a test drive by paying that request from your friend last weekend’s brunch that you’d completely forgotten about.