Official Venmo Blog

Let Siri Carry Your Wallet: Payments at the Speed of...

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:43:43 -0500

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

Let Siri Carry Your Wallet: Payments at the Speed of Conversation

We have released integration with the iPhone’s personal assistant Siri. Simply ask her to pay and charge your friends. Here are some examples of how it works:

“Tell Venmo to charge Alan O’Donnell four dollars and fifty cents for an iced latte from Starbucks”

“Tell Venmo to send Andrew Staub five dollars for a beer. Thanks for building talk to pay. This is sick!”

Here is your payment grammar lesson and how it works:

“Tell Venmo” + {send or charge} + {the full name of the person you are paying} + {the amount of the payment} + {what you are paying for}

Siri will draft a text message for you to review and send to Venmo. We’ll double check your grammar and make sure you are paying or charging one of your Venmo friends. If everything looks good, we’ll pay or charge your friend and send you and Siri a confirmation message.

Requirements

- Make sure you have our number (646-863-9557) saved as “Venmo” in your phone’s address book.

- Make sure to use your friend’s full name.

- Register for Venmo by downloading our iPhone or Android app.

Protips

- You can use “pay” instead of “send” but Siri often has trouble with this word. For some reason Apple decided to optimize for the word “hey” in text messages :).

- If you want to make a payment that includes cents, use the words dollars and cents. For example, say “ten dollars and fifty cents for a burger” and not “ten fifty for a burger”. Siri will interpret “ten fifty” as $1050 and you will be eating some expensive meat.

Venmo's First Hackathon - Oct 2011

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 17:50:00 -0400

Last Friday we held our first (of many more to come) 36-hour hackathon. We had a blast, learned a lot, and slept a little. Here’s a summary of the hacks we created!

Kortina, Shreyans, and Staub at a team meeting on Thursday morning

Venmo Live by Shreyans and Julian

It displays a map of the US (via Google Maps) and, in real time, drops a pin on the location of where a new payment occurs and where a new signup happens. The map resizes itself based on clusters of nearby payments. We’re getting an extra display for this office so we can always have this on!

a screenshot from Venmo Live

Timeflies iPhone app by Matt H and Matt D

Keep track of the Timeflies band with this free iPhone app. Watch their newest Youtube videos and follow their tweets with the app. Show your support for Timeflies by Venmo-ing in the app! It’s even open-sourced on github! Now you can finally pay them back for watching Under the Sea for the umpteenth time.

the Timeflies iPhone app in action

Commit Driven Development by Alan

You’ve heard about test driven development and maybe even readme driven development. But Alan takes it to an even higher level with commit driven development. Don’t let your followers down! Write commits before they happen to keep you on track, productive, and ahead of the trend!

Mobot by Kortina

Manage your tests and commits through gchat! When commits are pushed to the team, notifications are sent out through a team gchat and tests are automatically executed. Additionally, changes can be automatically deployed by using the mobot command in gchat. Things totally just got real.

a screenshot of the team gchat after code commits

Venmo Poker Night by Andrew Staub

Collect buy-ins and pay out winners with this app! After you clean them out, it’s even easier for them to buy back in. Watch the people join the table and stop that one guy from playing without paying.. You know who he is! Refer him to this open-sourced code on github!

Blackberry Venmo App by Jesse and John

The Blackberry app is almost done and Jesse and John learned the joy of developing for Blackberry’s. It can be best (and most accurately) explained through this comedic blog post. Though they only reached about step 40, they now have a deep respect for Blackberry developers. If you’re on a Blackberry, stay tuned for the app! Slow and steady wins the race!

Venmocorp Reimburse by Iqram

One of the many perks at Venmo is instant reimbursement for office supplies and team goods. To keep it neat and tidy, Reimburse categorizes payments and makes it even easier to get reimbursed. As an extra bonus, it has a shnazzy background too. Unfortunately it’s only an internal tool, but we thought you readers would be proud.

And final props to Venmo Underground by Jenny! Our support tools used to be a complex combination of Assistly, Asana, and email. But with Venmo Underground, it’s a one-stop shop for everything, and it looks phenomenal. Never before will helping our users be as easy as it is fun :)

a picture from late Thursday night

Venmo’s First Hackathon was a total domination! If you have any suggestions for us at the next Hackathon, contact us at support@venmo.com.

We closed out Friday night with demos and catered Sri Lankan food. It was a smashing success! Somewhere buried in our phones is a picture of Iqram and Kortina sleeping on the bed. Let’s hope it resurfaces. At one point, I could have sworn that I saw Julian go for his 3rd Chipotle burrito in those 2 days. And at 2:15am on Friday morning, the team eagerly did the most energetic shake down I’ve ever experienced. That’s Venmo, and we love what we do :)

Want to help us brew cool stuff at the Venmo labs? Check out our jobs page.

It doesn’t hurt to work at Venmo on your birthday!

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

It doesn’t hurt to work at Venmo on your birthday!

Woah, I just bought my dad an iPhone

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:16:00 -0400

Andrew Staub here, Venmo Growth Engineer, with a story that captures why I think Venmo is awesome.

My father turned 60 in May. Three weeks ago, he gave in to child pressure and switched from AOL to Gmail and ditched his 8 year-old palm pilot and 3 year-old flip phone in favor of the iPhone 3GS. I had repeatedly encouraged him that these new products were designed so well that he would have no problem picking them up.

And then reality hit. He was calling me three times a day with questions and having trouble making a simple phone call. Most likely, no matter your age, you have experienced a similar situation. You encourage your parents to adopt a new technology and their enormous fear of change causes a great deal of stress.

A few weeks ago, while at a Venmo team dinner, I received the following text message:

It’s hard to describe how excited I was. After my father experienced so much trouble in the first few days, he was able to figure out the maps application on his own, was excited that he was able to do it, and could finally see the value that his new phone will be to him.

I immediately told the entire Venmo team. Everyone was just as excited as I was. Iqram suggested that I Venmo my dad. Now, I’ll admit that I had a few beers and some sake in me, but I decided Yes! I am going to Venmo him. I am going to buy him the iPhone. I immediately sent him the following Venmo (captured by Shreyans):

Everyone was ecstatic. Kortina and Matt chipped in for the phone by paying me! (I promptly paid them back because this one was on me). Never in my life have I been so excited to give someone money. Never before has a payment I made immediately brought so much happiness to a group of people. This is the essence of Venmo. We are changing the way people feel while they exchange money. We are making it simple and enjoyable. I hope you can experience something like this soon.

Android Update!

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:04:02 -0400

We’ve updated our android app to include some awesome new features:

Foursquare Check-In:

When you make a payment on Venmo and tag it with a location, we’ll also check you in on foursquare. Two birds, one stone. So, next time you want to check-in at a bar or restaurant with your friends, just pay them back on Venmo, and we’ll do the work for you.

Twitter and Foursquare connect via the app:

You now have the ability to connect to Twitter and foursquare via the app, instead of going through the web.

In addition to these improvements, we’ve fixed a number of bugs related to the keyboard that should make your experience much more enjoyable!

Enjoy the new app, and as always, email us with comments and requests for new features! :)

iPhone Update Released!

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:27:00 -0400

Yesterday, we released an updated version of the Venmo iPhone app with new features & enhancements.

Connect with Foursquare & Twitter

Now, If you ask to share a payment on foursquare or Twitter but are not yet connected,

you’re prompted to connect.

Other Updates

Updated card.io to 1.1.1. Collect zip & send immediately.
Fixed “Cancel Friend” issue.
Login with short usernames now allowed.
Allow redirect back to third-party apps after payment completion.

Get the updated version of the Venmo iPhone app from the App Store.

iPhone Update Released!

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:09:00 -0400

Today, we released an updated version of the Venmo iPhone app with some awesome new features.

Lock it Up

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…

Scan a Card

Snap a picture of your debit or credit card to add it to your account.

To add a new card, tap Credit Cards in Settings, and tap the “+” button.

Faster Foursquare Checkins

We made it even easier to share payments you make at places as Foursquare checkins with a simple checkbox. Try it out next time you split the dinner bill, and in addition to checking you in, we’ll keep track of how much you’re spending at your favorite places.

Also…

Of course, we also fixed some issues and made some other enhancements, like the ability to manage your text & email notification settings. We hope you enjoy the latest version of the app!

Get the updated version of the Venmo iPhone app from the App Store.

Money in the bank, fast.

Mon, 30 May 2011 21:38:00 -0400

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...

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:01:30 -0400

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...

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 21:43:27 -0400

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!

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 19:57:56 -0400

A belated happy Holi from team Venmo!

We’re at SXSW with iPads and Cash - Look For Blue Venmo...

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:19:21 -0500

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...

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:29:00 -0500

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!

Venmo Trends in Social Payments, 2010

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 08:35:14 -0500

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 Say...

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:03:57 -0500

Venmo Winter Updates: New Help Center, Faster Withdrawals

Say Hello to help.venmo.com

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.

Faster Withdrawals

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.

This video from Todays THV does a really nice job of explaining...

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 15:27:34 -0500

This video from Todays THV does a really nice job of explaining the fun ways to use Venmo with your friends.

There are many times in life when you’re out with family or friends and you decide to make a purchase but don’t have cash. Your friend offers to pay for you and you say “I’ll get you next time.” Now you don’t have have wait for that next time!

CNN recently aired a great segment on your phone becoming your...

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:50:13 -0500

CNN recently aired a great segment on your phone becoming your wallet. They showed off some of the newest and coolest payments apps, including Venmo. So, when you’re not using the Starbucks iPhone app to buy yourself coffee, get the Venmo app and use it to send your friend a mid-afternoon latte to get them through the day!

Checkout Venmo on CNN here http://bit.ly/hG4cJd!

The Latest Release of Venmo for Android is Now Live! In addition...

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 11:25:00 -0500

The Latest Release of Venmo for Android is Now Live!

In addition to a bunch of performance improvements, we added a much requested feature that allows you to require a PIN every time you make a payment. You can setup your PIN in the Security Preferences section of the app. Enjoy the newest release, and happy holidays!

Don’t have the Venmo Android app yet? Search “Venmo” in the Android market or get the app at https://venmo.com/android

Venmo for iPhone Updates—Push Notifications and...

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 00:49:32 -0500

Venmo for iPhone Updates—Push Notifications and Commenting!

The newest release of Venmo for iPhone has push notifications, so now those of you who don’t enjoy SMS messages for payments can turn of texts and turn on push. Ch-ching!

Plus, now you can comment on and reply to payments, right inside the app. Don’t forget to send a thank you next time your roommate pays you back for groceries…

Don’t have the app yet? Get Venmo for your iPhone right now!

By the way: did you know you can pay anyone in your address book, even if they don’t have an iPhone or a Venmo account?

Ch-ching! The Newest Release of the Venmo Android App is Now...

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 11:18:43 -0500

Ch-ching! The Newest Release of the Venmo Android App is Now Available in the Market

With this latest release, instead of subscribing to alerts for new payments and comments via SMS, you can now opt to have these notifications pushed directly to your device. Because your payments now integrate seamlessly with all of your other device notifications, you can jump straight to the comment thread and reply to a friend with a single tap on the alert about a new payment. This makes it incredibly easy to send a “thank you” or followup when someone pays you back.

Give it a shot, and let us know what you think.

p.s. If you love the new Venmo payment alert sound as much as we do, Tweet us!

p.p.s. Don’t have the Venmo Android app? Get it here! Don’t have Android? Checkout our iPhone App. (And don’t worry, iPhone Venmo-ers, we have a new release coming soon for you too!)