In terms of P2P payments, Venmo’s numbers have been on the rise — setting a record $1 billion transfers in January. But now, Venmo seems to be changing how it offers its services to developers.
At least for the time being and perhaps only as an interim move as it focuses on its newly launched beta test, Pay with Venmo, which allows businesses to offer in-app payments.
A new TechCrunch report that developed over the weekend revealed that Venmo is no longer offering access for new developers to use its API. That doesn’t mean, of course, it’s a permanent move, but it seems to be putting a halt on their ability to integrate its API for the time being.
Through TechCrunch, Venmo offered the following statement: “The Venmo API is still available to existing users, however, we are not offering access to new users. We apologize for the confusion created by the ambiguity in our prior statement.”
TechCrunch initially reported that Venmo was shutting its developer API down all together, but those details were later clarified on the site after more communication was had with the company. That came after a message on its site read: “The Venmo API is no longer available. We’re sorry for the inconvenience. Please reach out to our support team if you have questions.”
What the actual plans seem to involve is changing some of the features for developers in order to have them use its Pay with Venmo platform. Venmo had initially started pushing its API on developers in 2010. But, for now, it’s still a bit unclear as to what’s next for developers who want access to its API.
More communication with TechCrunch from Venmo includes this: “We have made the very tough decision to no longer offer access to the Venmo Developer API. We’ve been working hard to build a strong peer-to-peer platform, as well as a new feature that allows users to potentially pay merchant apps with Venmo; unfortunately, with the work that’s required to continue delivering upon these goals, we sadly can’t give the use of our API the attention it truly deserves.”
The statement continues: “We take this very seriously as we’ve contributed to the developer community for so long, but it’s important to us that we create a DevAPI experience that meets both the needs of our users and the level of care they’ve come to expect with Venmo. We’ll be reevaluating down the road, but in the meantime, we are working on what that transition will look like and will communicate that soon.”
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