Venmo did what with my data? My location was shared when I paid with the app

The writer discovered this week that when he opened PayPal-owned Venmo to pay his personal trainer and made sure to click "private", the app still recorded his GPS location (home address) and the trainer's name, and sent it off to Braze, a third-party data collection firm. — Dreamstime/TNS

Many of us have ditched cash and, instead, use smartphone apps like Venmo to pay for goods and services.

The app is free, it takes just a second to initiate and finish a transaction. I don't have to write a check or pull out some cash. It's great.