Today, we released an updated version of the Venmo iPhone app with some awesome new features.
Ever give someone a fist-pound without locking it up? Just doesn’t feel right, does it?
That’s why we added the new passcode lock feature. This feature lets you lock the Venmo app with a four-digit PIN in case your cat gets a hold of your iPhone. This was our most common feature request for the Venmo iPhone App, so thanks to everyone who asked for passcode lock for inspiring us!
So, next time your friend tells you sending money through the Interwebs is not secure. Ask them if their wallet has a lock on it…
When we started last year, adding your bank account and withdrawing money into it for the first time could take up to 2 weeks. Wow, how times have changed.
Today, we’re happy to tell you that you can add a bank account, verify it in seconds, and have the money in your bank account overnight.
Now when you split dinner with your uninitiated friends, they can go from being Venmo newbies to having money in their bank accounts in 24 hours!
We would love to hear from you, about this or anything else on Venmo. Talk to us at feedback@venmo.com.
Thanks, and have a great week.
This made my day. If anyone has ideas for how we can help you have a similar experience, please let us know!
ps, big updates to our iPhone and Android apps coming soon!
iPhone App Update - Cash Out and Stats
We just updated Venmo for iPhone with two killer new features.
Cash Out
You no longer need to worry about visiting the website to withdraw money to your bank account. Just cash out directly from within the iPhone App!
Stats
We added a new tab in the Payments section of the app where you can find a quick summary of your spending. Tell us on Twitter or Facebook how much you have sent and received on Venmo this week or in total.
Enjoy!
A belated happy Holi from team Venmo!
We’re at SXSW with iPads and Cash - Look For Blue Venmo T-Shirts
Just use the Venmo app for iPhone or Android to pay a friend at a location in Austin and share it with your friends to enter. The more payments you make, the higher your chances of winning.
» Learn more
We’re launching rockets with iPods attached. Blast off!
Venmo, Launchrock, and Hive76 are launching rockets. Catch an iPad Gift Certificate or an iPod on a parachute. Awesome.
» Learn more
There are tons of ways to use Venmo at SXSW
Find someone in a Venmo T, get them to buy you lunch!
Find someone from Venmo wearing one of these blue t-shirts, and get them to send you some money!
Brand New Venmo Apps for iPhone and Android
Today, we are releasing new versions of the Venmo apps for iPhone and Android with a bunch of new updates that make the Venmo experience a lot more fun and more convenient. A few weeks ago, we announced that the process of withdrawing money you receive on Venmo to your bank account will be much faster. We accomplished this by establishing relationships with better banking partners who want to help us handle our rapidly growing transaction volume and continue to provide an excpetional experience.
Now, we are excited to complement these faster processing times with a suite of awesome new features in our mobile apps.
Faster Payments with Friends You Frequently Pay
Based on an analysis of Venmo payments we recently conducted, we found that most Venmo users perform a majority of their transactions with their four closest friends. So, to make it even easier to pay back your most frequent Venmo buddies, in addition to presenting you a searchable list of all your friends, we have a new Quick List of recent contacts you can select as a recipient with a single tap. This Quick List actually makes a Venmo payment a lot faster, kind of like the Fast Cash option on an ATM machine does.
Venmo Places
A few weeks ago, we categorized all of the social payments that happened on Venmo in 2010. While there were thousands of different use cases, by far the most popular category was friends splitting lunch, dinner, and drink bills with each other. Everyone knows how annoying and stressful that situation can be when the waiter brings a check to your party of six. The Venmo apps for iPhone and Android make it super simple to settle the bill evenly (to the penny, if you like), and given the number of people that are using Venmo to split the bill when they go out, we have integrated with Foursquare and Facebook places to allow you to attach a location to every payment you make.
Venmo Places also makes it really easy to see how often and how much you are spending with your friends at your favorite spots ( so now you’ll know how much you’re spending on those tasty but pricey burgers at the Spotted Pig ).
Plus, when you publish a payment tagged with a place, it’s a fun way to share your experience with any of your Facebook, Twitter, or Venmo friends who might not have been there. We like to think of it as the “check-out” followup to a Foursquare or Facebook “check-in.”
More Social, More Fun
Sharing Venmo payments with friends is one of the features users love about Venmo that they just cannot get with any other payment method. With the latest apps, we’ve added better controls for managing your sharing preferences and privacy, as well as push notifications for payments made by your friends.
Stats
One of the benefits of using Venmo over cash or check is better tracking of your social spending. In the new apps, we’ve added a Stats screen you’ll see after every payment you make.
Here, you can see the total number of social payments you have made on Venmo, how many friends you’ve spent money with, how many times you have transacted with the particular friend involved in the most recent payment, and how many times you have paid at the place you have tagged in your last payment. It’s like a mini Mint report, delivered in real time, straight to your device.
Enjoy the app updates!
We recently performed a study of Venmo social payments data from last year that uncovered some interesting trends and insights into how people are using their phones to pay for things with their friends. One of the reports we found most compelling was a categorization of all social payments made on Venmo over the last year. While there were thousands of different ways people used Venmo, a few categories made up the majority of payments.
Based on these findings, we’re working on some new features that should make Venmo even easier and more fun to use for these popular activities. Look forward to seeing some new releases very soon, but for now, enjoy perusing the most popular payment categories of 2010.
Most Popular Payment Categories
1. Food & Drink
Popular in this category:
lunch, coffee, dinner, beer, pizza, sushi, thai, sandwich,
tacos, brunch, burger, burrito, wine, and tea
How much did you spend on tacos last year?
2. Going Out
Popular in this category:
tonight, tickets, party, bar, weekend, movie, and wedding
Given that these payments were made for the most part from mobile devices, we were surprised tix were not more popular than tickets.
3. Household
Popular in this category:
rent, groceries, utilities, cleaning, comcast, cable,
electric, laundry, and internet
These household payments (eg, comcast ) are probably the most utilitarian of Venmo payments. Paying for cable somehow is just not as exciting as paying for a party.
4. Travel
Popular in this category:
gas, get a ride, car, ski trip, bus, and taxi/cab
Some of our personal favorite travel expenses: gas and tolls. You can make these payments from the passenger’s seat and you don’t have to worry about the driver tyring to graciously refuse your contribution.
Top Meals Split
Splitting meals was an incredibly popular social payment among Venmo users, with the most frequent being lunch.
Top Drinks Shared
Venmo users never have to remember who has the next round, because they settle up instantly using our iPhone and Android apps—and, apparently they are highly caffeinated!
Venmo Winter Updates: New Help Center, Faster Withdrawals
You have questions, we have answers. We just built a brand new Help Center. It’s got answers to frequently asked questions, tips, notes on security, and all sorts of other great information. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, use the help center to ask us directly. We’re very happy to announce that after months of working with our banking partners, we’ve cut withdrawal times in half. Withdrawing money to your bank account now takes only 1-3 business days (a big improvement over the previous 4-6 business day turn around). Speeding up this process was the most common request we heard from all of you, so we’re very excited to be able to improve your experience with the faster cash outs! Setup your bank account right now to take advantage of faster withdrawal times.Say Hello to help.venmo.com
Faster Withdrawals
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