You can cancel unwanted subscriptions for free, without paying a service to do it for you. The cancel pages belong to the companies that bill you, and reaching them costs nothing. What takes effort is finding everything first. This guide is a free, step-by-step method for a full cleanup: find every biller, cancel each unwanted subscription where it is billed, then confirm the charges have actually stopped.

Can you cancel all subscriptions at once?

Not with one button. If you searched for how to cancel all subscriptions, the honest answer is that it is a list job. On an iPhone, Apple’s steps have you tap one subscription at a time and choose Cancel Subscription. On Android, Google’s steps work the same way in Google Play. Anything billed by a website, Amazon, PayPal or a gym is separate again. So to cancel all subscriptions you no longer want, you work through a list, and the list is Step 1.

Step 1: Find every company that bills you

Go through each place below and write down every subscription you find: its name, who bills it, the amount, how often it renews and the next date.

Your app stores

  • iPhone or iPad: open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions. Our App Store guide covers Mac and Windows too.
  • Android: in the Google Play app, tap your profile icon, then Payments & subscriptions, then Subscriptions. Samsung phones also have the Galaxy Store. Our Android guide covers both, plus your Google Account’s subscription list.

Check every account you use. Google says a missing subscription is often on another Google Account, and Apple says a subscription may belong to another Apple Account or a family member.

Amazon, Roku and PayPal

  • Amazon: Amazon’s subscription help page says Your Memberships and Subscriptions lists your active, cancelled and expired subscriptions, with the renewal date and price.
  • Roku: subscriptions billed by Roku are listed at my.roku.com/subscriptions, according to Roku’s help page.
  • PayPal: on the website, go to Settings, then Payments, then Automatic payments, as PayPal explains.

Your card and bank statements

Statements catch what the app stores miss: gyms, utilities, software and services you signed up for on the web. Read twelve months back, because a yearly plan only shows up once a year. Two patterns help you sort the lines:

  • Google says every Google Play purchase shows as GOOGLE* followed by the app, developer or content type, and that a charge in any other format did not come from Google Play.
  • Apple purchases show as apple.com/bill. Apple’s page on charges from apple.com/bill says they can be apps, subscriptions or other purchases from Apple. Our apple.com/bill guide explains how to match one to a subscription.

Your email

Search every inbox you use for words like receipt, subscription, renewal, trial and membership. Apple suggests searching for “receipt from Apple” or “invoice from Apple.” Our guide to finding all your subscriptions has more places subscriptions hide.

Decide what to keep

With the list in front of you, mark each line keep or cancel. Adding up the yearly cost of each one with the subscription cost calculator makes the decision easier.

Step 2: Cancel each one where it is billed

Work through the cancel list, starting with whatever renews soonest.

  • App store subscriptions: cancel in the App Store or Google Play, not in the app. Google states that uninstalling an app does not cancel its subscription.
  • Subscriptions billed by the company: sign in on its website and cancel in your account. Our cancellation guides link to each service’s own cancel page.
  • Amazon and Roku: cancel or turn off auto-renew in those accounts. Our guide on turning off auto-renewal explains how that differs from cancelling.
  • Gyms, warehouse clubs and other memberships: these often have their own channels and notice periods. See how to cancel a membership.
  • Free trials: cancel before the trial ends. See how to cancel a free trial.

PayPal deserves a warning. Cancelling an automatic payment in PayPal stops PayPal paying, but PayPal says this “typically does not cancel the underlying subscription or contract with the service provider.” Cancel with the company too. The same goes for your bank: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says cancelling an automatic payment does not cancel what you owe, and that contracts like a gym need to be cancelled with the company.

As you go, save proof. The FTC advises keeping a copy of your cancellation request and notes from any conversations, in its guide to getting out of free trials and auto-renewals. A confirmation email or a screenshot with the date is enough.

Step 3: Confirm the charges have stopped

A cancellation is only finished when the next charge does not arrive.

  • Check the status. On an iPhone, Apple says a missing Cancel button or an expiration message in red text means the subscription is already cancelled. Amazon’s list shows cancelled subscriptions separately from active ones.
  • Expect access to continue for a while. Google says you keep a cancelled subscription for the time you have already paid for. That is normal and does not mean the cancellation failed.
  • Watch the next statement. For each subscription, check the date it would have renewed. FTC guidance is to keep watching your statements for charges after you cancel.

If a charge still comes through

Contact the company with your proof first. If it keeps charging you, the FTC says to dispute the charge with your credit or debit card company, and warns that just changing your card number is often not enough. Our guide to stopping automatic payments covers card and bank options, and the refund guides cover asking for money back.

Keep the list from growing back

A one-time cleanup works best with a habit after it. Subex is one way to keep that list: on Android, you add the subscriptions you kept by hand and get a reminder 1 or 3 days before each renewal, with a link to the cancel guide when one is due. It does not find subscriptions, link to your bank or cancel anything for you, and it is free for one subscription added by hand, with Premium needed for more. You do not need it for the cleanup above. A spreadsheet or calendar works too, as our guide on how to track subscriptions explains. If you prefer an app, download Subex.

FAQ

Is there a way to cancel all subscriptions at once?

No. Apple and Google cancel one subscription at a time, and companies that bill you directly each have their own cancel page. The fastest way to cancel all subscriptions is to list them first and then work through the list.

Is it really free to cancel unwanted subscriptions?

Cancelling through the company’s own account page costs nothing to do. Some contracts, such as gym memberships, can carry notice periods or fees under their own terms, so read the agreement before you cancel.

Do I need to pay a service to cancel subscriptions for me?

No. Every step in this guide uses your own accounts, your own statements and the companies’ own cancel pages, so you can do all of it yourself at no cost.

What if I find a charge I don’t recognize?

Match its name on the statement first: GOOGLE* means Google Play, and apple.com/bill means Apple. If you still cannot place it, contact the company named on the charge or your card issuer, and report a charge you did not authorize.