Deleting an app does not cancel its subscription. The charge keeps arriving until you cancel through the same store or website you used to subscribe. That is the single most common reason people pay for apps they no longer use. Here is where to look on each platform.
First, work out where you subscribed
Your bank or card statement is the best clue. The merchant name tells you who bills you:
- Apple charges appear as Apple or App Store billing. Cancel on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.
- Google Play charges appear as Google Play or a Google payment. Cancel in the Play Store.
- The developer’s name means you subscribed on their website. Cancel in your account on their site.
If you subscribed through Apple and try to cancel on the developer’s website, they often cannot do it for you, and the reverse is also true.
iPhone and iPad
- Open Settings.
- Tap your name at the top.
- Tap Subscriptions.
- Choose the subscription and tap Cancel Subscription, then confirm.
If you do not see a Subscriptions option, the subscription may be billed to a different Apple account, through a family organiser, or directly by the developer. You can also reach the same list in the App Store app by tapping your profile picture.
Mac
Open the App Store, click your name at the bottom of the sidebar, then Account Settings, and find Subscriptions. Choose Manage and cancel.
Android (Google Play)
- Open the Play Store app.
- Tap your profile icon.
- Tap Payments & subscriptions, then Subscriptions.
- Choose the subscription and tap Cancel subscription.
You can also manage Google Play subscriptions from a browser at play.google.com by signing in and opening your subscriptions page. Make sure you are signed in with the same Google account that pays for it.
Subscriptions bought on a website
Sign in to the service’s website, open Account, Billing or Plan, and look for cancel or downgrade. Some services make you cancel through a chat or a phone call. Keep the confirmation email; it is your proof if a charge appears later.
Will I get my money back?
Usually not for the current period. Most subscriptions run until the end of the period you already paid for, then stop. If you were charged by mistake, see our guide to app store refunds.
Trials: cancel the day you start
Most free trials convert to a paid plan automatically. On Apple and Google Play you can normally cancel a trial immediately and keep using it until the trial ends. Doing it on day one removes the need to remember. Check the trial details on the cancellation screen, because some offers end access as soon as you cancel. More tactics are in our guide to using free trials without getting charged.
A quarterly subscription audit
Once every three months:
- Export or scan your last three card statements.
- List every recurring charge with its price and billing cycle.
- Mark how often you actually used each one.
- Cancel anything marked “rarely” unless you can name a date you will need it.
Our free subscription audit tool does the maths for you, converts every billing cycle to a yearly figure, and shows how much the rarely used ones really cost.
Avoid the double-pay trap
Families often pay for the same service twice: one person on Apple, another on Google Play, a third on the web. Before cancelling, check whether a family plan would cover everyone more cheaply. The family plan splitter compares the options in seconds.