How To Remove Subscriptions on an iPhone or iPad—A Comprehensive Guide
The subscription pricing model has become widespread. According to Statista, the revenue of subscription-based digital media alone is expected to rise by over 13.5% by 2025, generating over $1.26 trillion in recurring payments.
In most cases, signing up for a subscription service is a breeze, whereas canceling can sometimes be challenging due to the companies’ continuous efforts to retain you as a customer and maintain an edge within the competitive landscape.
To help you navigate the cancellation process with more ease, this article will explain how to remove subscriptions on an iPhone or iPad. You’ll also learn how to prevent unexpected charges from subscription-based merchants.
Note that the information in this article is valid as of November 2023. For updates, refer to Apple’s website or connect with their customer support.
How To Stop a Subscription on an iPhone or iPad—A Step-by-Step Guide
For starters, you should know that deleting the subscription service’s app from your phone won’t remove the subscription and prevent automatic payments. If you want to stop a subscription on an iPhone or iPad, you should follow the steps below:
- Go to Settings.
- Tap your name, then Subscriptions.
- Find the subscription you’re looking to cancel and tap it.
- Tap the Cancel Subscription option. You might need to scroll down to locate it. If the button is unavailable, that means the subscription has already been removed.
It is also important to know that the subscription cancellation process may differ in some regions and countries.
You should cancel the subscription at least 24 hours before the end of the free trial or billing period. Otherwise, your request may not be processed in time, and you may have to pay for another month or year of services.
Within the same Subscriptions settings, you can also:
- Modify subscriptions, i.e., switch to a different plan or billing frequency
- Resubscribe to inactive subscriptions
- Share eligible subscriptions with others in your Family Sharing group
What To Do if You Can’t Find the Subscription
In case you can’t find the subscription you want to cancel in the Subscriptions section, you should try to find the receipt. The following directions will help you do so:
- Go to your email app.
- Type “receipt from Apple” in the search bar.
- Check the receipt of the subscription in question and see which Apple ID was used:
- If the receipt displays a family member’s Apple ID, you’ll have to ask that particular person to cancel the subscription.
- If the receipt displays your other Apple ID, log in with that one and start all over.
- In case you can’t find the Apple receipt, that might mean you’ve purchased the subscription from another seller. You should refer to your bank or credit card statements to see which seller billed you for the subscription and follow their cancellation procedure.
How To Remove an Apple Subscription on Other Devices
To remove Apple subscriptions using a computer running Mac or Windows, take the steps listed in the table below: