Venmo is a popular peer-to-peer payment app owned by PayPal that allows you to easily send and receive money from friends and contacts. You can block users on Venmo if you no longer wish to interact with them or see their payments and activity. However, you may later decide you want to unblock someone you previously blocked. Here are the steps to unblock someone on Venmo:
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Why You Might Want To Unblock Someone on Venmo
There are a few reasons why you may want to unblock a previously blocked Venmo user:
- You blocked them by accident and still need to exchange payments
- The situation that led you to block them has been resolved
- You overreacted and want to give them another chance
- You need to pay them back for something
- You want to reconnect as friends
Whatever the reason, Venmo makes it easy to find users you have blocked and remove those blocks.
Finding Your Blocked Users List in Venmo
To unblock a user, you first need to access your blocked users list:
- Open the Venmo app on your iPhone or Android phone
- Tap the profile icon in the top-right corner
- Scroll down and tap Settings
- Tap Blocked Users
This will open your blocked users list showing all users you have blocked from interacting with you on Venmo.
Unblocking a User
To unblock someone:
- Tap the user you want to unblock from your blocked list
- Tap Unblock on the next screen
That’s it! As soon as you confirm by tapping Unblock, that user will be removed from your blocked list immediately.
They will once again be able to find you, view your profile, send you payments, make comments, and send messages (unless you also have them muted). And their profile, payments, comments, and messages will also become visible to you again.
Essentially, unblocking them restores communication in both directions as if they had never been blocked in the first place.
What Happens When You Unblock Someone on Venmo
Here are some key things to know about what happens when you unblock another user on Venmo:
- They will be notified that you unblocked them the next time they log into the Venmo app
- Any payments between you while blocked did not go through. Unblocking allows those pending payments to process if still valid
- Previous messages between you while blocked are not restored
- Any comments made on payments between you while blocked will not be visible
- Their profile, payments, comments, and new messages will automatically become visible to you again
- You will both be able to find each other via search again
So unblocking fully restores open communication lines. Keep in mind it does not undo specific actions taken while blocked, but it removes the block restrictions going forward.
Unblocking Someone Who Still Has You Blocked
It’s important to note that unblocking someone on Venmo does not automatically cause them to unblock you.
If another user still has you blocked, they will get notified that you unblocked them. However, you will remain blocked from interacting with them until they specifically decide to unblock you.
You will be able to see if someone still has you blocked on Venmo because you will get an error if you try to make a payment to them or message them after unblocking them.
Essentially, think of blocking and unblocking on Venmo as two one-way switches. Both people have to “turn on” communication from their side for open interaction.
Other Ways to Limit Contact Instead of Blocking
Instead of fully blocking users, Venmo also gives you a few less severe options to limit contact with someone:
- Mute – Mutes all notifications from that user but still allows payments
- Restrict – Stops someone from commenting on your profile or payments
- Report – Reports abusive, suspicious or rule breaking behavior to Venmo
