In this guide
Before you start.
- Check the trial end date and act at least a day early. Blinkist states that App Store and Google Play subscribers should cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends, and leaving it to the last hours is how the annual charge lands.
- Check which email address holds the subscription. Blinkist states you have to be logged into the account with the correct email address to cancel, and a second account created with a different sign-in method is a common reason the settings page looks empty.
- Check who bills you before opening anything. Blinkist documents three separate routes: its own account settings, the Apple App Store and Google Play. Cancelling in the wrong one does nothing to the charge.
- Expect a Google Play pre-authorization if you subscribed there. Blinkist states that Google Play payments can come with a pre-authorization charge 24 hours in advance, and that where a cancellation was in time, the pre-authorization can take up to 14 business days to clear. A pending amount is not necessarily a completed charge.
- If your access came through work or someone else's plan, you may not be able to cancel it at all. Blinkist states that Premium Sharing or company benefit subscribers cannot cancel themselves, so the person or company that owns the plan has to act.
- Note that what Blinkist calls cancelling a subscription is deactivating automatic renewal. The access you paid for continues, the renewal is what stops.
FOLLOW THE RIGHT BILLING ROUTE
Cancel Blinkist, step by step.
Cancel in your Blinkist account settings
This is the route for a subscription bought on the Blinkist website. Blinkist describes it as cancelling the trial or deactivating automatic renewal, which is the same control.
- Sign in on the Blinkist website using the email address the subscription is registered to.
- Open your account settings.
- Find the subscription section and the option to cancel the trial or deactivate automatic renewal.
- Complete the confirmation rather than closing the page partway.
- Check the same settings page afterwards: automatic renewal should no longer be active.
If nothing about a subscription appears here, the charge is from a store or from a shared or company plan. Blinkist states that Premium Sharing and company benefit subscribers cannot cancel themselves.
Cancel a Blinkist subscription billed by Apple
A subscription started inside the Blinkist iPhone or iPad app is an Apple purchase. Blinkist directs these subscribers to Apple's own process and cannot deactivate the renewal from its side.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap your name at the top of the screen.
- Tap Subscriptions.
- Select the Blinkist entry.
- Tap Cancel Subscription and confirm.
Blinkist repeats Apple's timing rule in its own words: cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends. A cancellation inside the final day may not stop the charge.
Cancel a Blinkist subscription billed by Google Play
A subscription started in the Android app is billed by Google Play, and the pre-authorization behaviour makes the timing here worth understanding.
- Open the Google Play Store app with the Google Account that bought the subscription.
- Tap your profile icon in the top right.
- Select Payments & subscriptions, then Subscriptions.
- Select Blinkist.
- Tap Cancel subscription and complete the confirmation, at least 24 hours before the trial ends.
Blinkist states that Google Play payments can come with a pre-authorization charge 24 hours in advance, and that it can take up to 14 business days to clear. If you cancelled in time and still see a pending amount, that is the likely explanation, but check it actually disappears.
What happens next?
- Access continues until the end of the period you have paid for. Deactivating automatic renewal stops the next charge rather than ending the current subscription immediately.
- The free tier remains after a paid subscription lapses, so the account is not closed, but the full library of titles is no longer available.
- Highlights and saved items stay tied to the account rather than being deleted by cancelling, though what you can open is limited to what the free tier includes.
- A store-billed subscription is refunded by that store rather than by Blinkist, and each store decides those requests under its own policy.
- Deleting the app cancels nothing. The subscription lives with Blinkist or with the store, not on the phone.
Cancelling a Blinkist free trial.
How do I cancel my Blinkist free trial before being charged?
Cancel in your Blinkist account settings if you signed up on the website, or in the App Store or Google Play if you signed up in the app. Blinkist states you should cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends.
How do I cancel an App Store free trial before I’m charged?
For a trial billed by Apple, open Settings on your iPhone or iPad, tap your name, then Subscriptions. Select the trial, choose the cancellation option and confirm. Apple advises cancelling at least 24 hours before the trial ends to prevent renewal. Check the confirmation for your access end date. If you track it in Subex, enter the date the trial converts as the renewal date and set a reminder 1 or 3 days before.
How do I cancel a Google Play free trial before it renews?
Open your subscriptions in Google Play using the Google Account that started the trial. Select the plan, choose Cancel subscription and complete the confirmation steps before the trial expires. Otherwise, the paid subscription begins automatically under the offer’s terms. Uninstalling the app does not stop renewal. If you track it in Subex, enter the date the trial converts as the renewal date and set a reminder 1 or 3 days before.
WHEN IT DOES NOT WORK
If you get stuck.
I was charged for a whole year right after the trial
That is the plan converting rather than a billing error. Blinkist's standard offer is an annual subscription, so a trial that runs out produces a year's charge in one payment rather than a month's. Cancelling now stops the renewal a year from now but does not undo the charge: for that, ask whoever billed you, which is Blinkist for a website purchase and Apple or Google for a store one.
My account settings show no subscription to cancel
Check the email address first, because Blinkist states you have to be logged into the account for the correct address. If that is right and the page is still empty, the subscription is billed by Apple or Google Play, where it appears in that store's subscription list, or it is a Premium Sharing or company benefit plan, which Blinkist states the subscriber cannot cancel themselves.
I cancelled in time but a charge is showing anyway
On Google Play, check whether it is pending rather than settled. Blinkist states that Google Play payments can come with a pre-authorization charge 24 hours in advance and that it can take up to 14 business days to clear after a timely cancellation. If the amount settles rather than disappearing, take it to Google, since Blinkist cannot refund a Play charge.
I cancelled in the app but the money kept coming
Deleting the app, or turning something off inside it, does not reach the billing. The cancellation has to happen where the payment is set up: Blinkist account settings for a website subscription, Apple's Subscriptions list for an App Store one, Google Play for an Android one. Check the receipt to see which name is on the charge.
Someone else pays for my Blinkist and I want it stopped
Blinkist states that Premium Sharing and company benefit subscribers cannot cancel themselves. If your access came through an employer or through someone else's plan, the account holder or the company has to remove you or end the plan. Nothing in your own settings will stop it.
Still not cancelled?Common reasons a subscription will not cancel How to cancel an app subscription
GOOD TO KNOW
Questions, answered.
Does cancelling Blinkist end my access immediately?
No. What you are doing is deactivating automatic renewal, so access continues to the end of the period already paid for and the next charge does not happen.
Can Blinkist refund an annual charge?
A refund is a separate request from a cancellation, and the answer depends on who billed you. Blinkist handles website purchases through its support team, while an App Store or Google Play charge is refunded by that store under its own policy.
Why can I not cancel my Blinkist subscription?
Usually one of three reasons Blinkist documents: you are signed into a different email address from the one on the subscription, the subscription is billed by Apple or Google Play rather than by Blinkist, or it is a Premium Sharing or company benefit plan, which Blinkist states subscribers cannot cancel themselves.
Provider resources
- Blinkist: how do I cancel my subscription or free trial?
- Blinkist help centre
- Apple: view, change, or cancel subscriptions
- Google Play: cancel subscriptions
Instructions reviewed .
Subex is independent of Blinkist. Availability and cancellation terms can vary by plan, billing provider and country.
