How to cancel a subscription on Google Play

Cancelling a subscription you bought through Google Play takes four taps. The hard part is knowing where to look, and knowing which of your subscriptions Google Play can't see at all.

Cancel on your Android phone

1. 1Open the Play Store and tap your profile picture at the top right.
2. 2Tap Payments and subscriptions, then Subscriptions.
3. 3Pick the subscription you want to stop.
4. 4Tap Cancel subscription and confirm.

Google may ask why you're leaving, and some apps offer a cheaper plan or a pause instead. You don't have to take either: skip the question and confirm.

Cancel on the web

On a laptop, open play.google.com/store/account/subscriptions and sign in with the Google account that pays. Find the subscription, choose Manage, then Cancel subscription. This is the way to do it when your phone is lost, broken or not with you.

What happens after you cancel

• You keep access until the period ends. If you paid on the 5th for a month, the app keeps working until the next 5th.
• No more charges. The subscription won't renew, and Google Play shows the date it ends.
• You can change your mind. Until that date, the same screen offers to resubscribe or restore it.
• Your account stays with the app. Cancelling stops the payment; what happens to your data inside the app is up to its developer.

Free trials: cancel before the last day

A free trial on Google Play turns into a paid subscription by itself when it ends. To skip the first charge, cancel from the same Subscriptions screen any time before the trial is over. Doing it a day early avoids time zone surprises.

One habit saves most of the pain: the moment you start a trial, set a reminder for two days before it converts.

The subscriptions Google Play can't see

Google Play only lists what you bought inside Android apps through Google's own billing. Plenty of what you pay for every month lives somewhere else:

If a charge on your bank statement doesn't match anything in Google Play, check these places before you call your bank.

Asking for a refund

Cancelling stops the next charge; it doesn't refund the last one. If you were charged for something you didn't mean to keep, open your order history on play.google.com and look for the option to request a refund. Google decides each request. For older charges, the app's developer is the one to ask, using the contact details on its Play Store page.

Never miss the cancel window again

Most unwanted renewals happen because the date sneaks up on you. Recuro keeps every subscription, recharge and bill in one list and reminds you 3 days and 1 day before each renewal, with free trials flagged 2 days before they convert. Every item has a cancel guide, and anything billed through Google Play opens Play's subscription page directly.