Learning how to cancel subscriptions on Android starts with one question: who bills you? An Android phone can carry subscriptions from Google Play, the Samsung Galaxy Store, a company’s own website, PayPal and your mobile carrier, and each one is cancelled in a different place. This guide shows how to find subscriptions on Android, how to check each billing channel, and where to stop every charge.
Step 1: Check your Google Play subscriptions
Most app subscriptions on Android are billed through Google Play, so start there. To check subscriptions on Android, Google’s help page on managing recurring payments and subscriptions gives this route:
- Open the Google Play app.
- Make sure you are signed in to the correct Google Account.
- Tap your profile icon at the top right, then Payments & subscriptions, then Subscriptions.
- Select a subscription, tap Cancel subscription and follow the instructions.
Our Google Play cancellation guide has the full steps, including cancelling from a computer, pausing payments, and what to do when the cancel button is missing. Two rules from Google’s cancellation page are worth knowing before you start:
- Uninstalling does not cancel. Google states: “When you uninstall the app, your subscription won’t cancel.”
- Access runs to the end of the period. After you cancel, you keep the subscription for the time you have already paid for.
How do I find my Google subscriptions?
If the list in Play is empty or a plan you pay for is missing, it is usually on another account. Google’s page on fixing problems with subscriptions suggests these checks:
- Switch accounts in Play. Tap your profile picture, tap the down arrow and pick another Google Account.
- Check the email on the subscription. The address you used with the app can be different from your Google Account.
- Search your other inboxes for the subscription receipt.
- Ask your family. Someone may have subscribed with their own account.
Google also lists subscriptions in two places outside the Play Store:
- Your Google Account. Open Settings, tap Google, then your name, then Manage your Google Account. The tab is called Payments & subscriptions in some versions and Wallet & subscriptions in others; choose Manage subscriptions. According to Google Account Help, this view can include Google Play, YouTube and linked news subscriptions. Google notes that unlinking a subscription here does not cancel it.
- Google payments center. The Subscriptions section at payments.google.com shows recurring charges from Google with a Manage option for each one. If neither place offers a cancel option, Google’s advice is short: “Cancel through the subscription provider.”
Step 2: Check the Samsung Galaxy Store
Samsung Galaxy phones have a second app store. Subscriptions bought through the Galaxy Store are listed there rather than in Google Play. Samsung’s Galaxy Store FAQ and its cancellation steps give this route:
- Open Galaxy Store and sign in with your Samsung account.
- Tap Menu (the three horizontal lines).
- Tap Subscriptions and select the app.
- Tap Unsubscribe.
Samsung says you can keep using a cancelled subscription until the service period ends. For other billing questions, the FAQ points to the Settings icon in the same menu and its contact option.
Step 3: Find subscriptions billed outside the app stores
Plenty of services on an Android phone are never billed by Google or Samsung. If a charge is not in Play or the Galaxy Store, look at who sent the receipt and cancel with that company.
Subscriptions bought on a website
If you signed up on a company’s website, you cancel in your account on that website, even if you use its Android app every day. Our cancellation guides link to each service’s own account page, such as Netflix and Spotify.
The reverse catches people out too. Amazon’s help page on the Prime free trial states that customers who sign up for Prime in the Android shopping app must manage it through Google’s subscription services, so that Prime membership is cancelled in Play, not on Amazon. See our Amazon Prime guide for both routes.
Apple services work the same way. Apple’s page on cancelling a subscription from Apple says that if you are billed through Google Play, you cancel in the Google Play app, and that subscriptions billed by Apple are managed at account.apple.com. The Apple Music guide covers the Android app.
PayPal
If you pay with PayPal, check its list of automatic payments. PayPal’s instructions are to go to Settings, then Payments, then Automatic payments on the website and choose the merchant, or to open the menu in the app and choose Subscriptions or Linked Businesses. PayPal warns that this “typically does not cancel the underlying subscription or contract with the service provider,” so cancel with the merchant as well. Full steps: how to cancel subscriptions on PayPal.
Your mobile carrier
Charges can reach your phone bill in two ways:
- Carrier billing for Google Play. With some carriers and in some countries, Google Play purchases can be charged to your phone bill. That is still a Play subscription, so you cancel it in Play. Google’s page on charges you don’t recognize says it can only act on carrier billing transactions within 60 days of the transaction date.
- Services sold by your carrier. If a line on your phone bill has no matching order in your Google Play order history, Play did not bill it. Add-ons and bundled services that the carrier sells are managed in your carrier account or app.
Card and bank statements
Google says every Google Play purchase appears on a statement as GOOGLE* followed by the app name, the developer name or a content type, and that a charge in any other format did not come from Google Play. Anything else belongs to the company named on the line. Our guide to finding all your subscriptions walks through statements and inboxes in more detail, and how to stop automatic payments covers stopping a charge at your card or bank after you have cancelled with the company.
What cancelling does not do
Cancelling stops the next renewal. It does not refund the period you are in. On Google Play, a refund is a separate request with its own time limits, explained in our Google Play refund guide. For other companies, see the refund guides.
Deleting your account inside an app is not the same as cancelling either. The subscription belongs to the account that bills you, which is why the route always runs through Play, the Galaxy Store, PayPal, your carrier or the company’s website.
Keep your Android subscriptions in one list
Once you know what you pay for, write it down in one place. Subex is an Android app for exactly that list. You add each subscription by hand, either from its catalog or as a custom entry, and you can set a reminder 1 or 3 days before each renewal. When a reminder arrives, you can open the step-by-step cancel guide for that service. Subex does not read your Google account or cancel anything for you: you finish each cancellation with whoever bills you. Get Subex on Google Play.
FAQ
How do I see all my subscriptions on Android?
No single screen shows them all. Check Google Play (profile icon, Payments & subscriptions, Subscriptions), the Galaxy Store on a Samsung phone, your Google Account’s subscriptions page, PayPal’s automatic payments, your phone bill and your card statements. Each one lists only what it bills.
How do I cancel a subscription on a Samsung phone?
If you bought it through Google Play, cancel it in Play like on any Android phone. If you bought it through the Galaxy Store, open Galaxy Store, tap Menu, then Subscriptions, select the app and tap Unsubscribe.
Does uninstalling an app cancel the subscription on Android?
No. Google states that uninstalling an app does not cancel its subscription. Cancel it in Google Play, or with the company that bills you, and the charges stop at the end of the paid period.
Why is a subscription not showing in Google Play?
It may be on a different Google Account, on a family member’s account, or not billed by Google at all. Switch accounts in Play first, then search your email for the receipt to see who charged you.