How to cancel subscriptions on Google Play
Go to play.google.com/store/account/subscriptions, or open Google Play and tap your profile picture → Payments & subscriptions. Open the subscription and choose Cancel subscription. You keep access until the end of the period you've already paid for, and uninstalling the app cancels nothing.
The fast path
- Go to play.google.com/store/account/subscriptions, signed in to the Google Account that has the subscription.
- Find the subscription and click Manage.
- Click Cancel subscription.
- Pick a reason in the confirmation pop-up, then click Continue.
You can cancel subscriptions on Google Play from an Android phone too. Open the subscription in the Play app, tap Cancel subscription, and follow the instructions.
Uninstalling the app does not cancel anything. Google says so on the same help page these steps come from. Cancel first, uninstall second.
Where the Google Play subscriptions list lives on your phone
Two routes get you there:
- In Google Play. Tap your profile picture at the top right, then Payments & subscriptions.
- In your device settings. Open Settings, tap Google → your name → Manage your Google Account, then tap Payments & subscriptions → Manage subscriptions.
If a subscription you're sure you have isn't there, Google's first suggestion is the right one. It's probably on a different Google Account. Switch accounts and look again before you decide it has vanished.
Pause a Google Play subscription instead of cancelling
Some apps let you pause rather than quit. Pausing is the better move for anything seasonal, like a fitness app in December or a course platform between semesters. What Google documents:
- The pause starts at the end of your current billing period, not immediately.
- Pause lengths run from one week to three months, depending on the app and the subscription.
- To pause, open the subscription and click Manage → Pause payments, choose the period, then Confirm.
- To come back early, open the subscription and click Manage → Resume. Your subscription restarts immediately.
The catch with pausing is that it ends by itself. When the pause runs out the payments start again, and nothing on your phone warns you the day before. If you pause, put the restart date in your calendar, the same way you would set a free trial reminder.
What happens after you cancel
You keep using the subscription for the time you've already paid for. Google's own worked example: buy a one-year subscription on 1 January for $10, cancel on 1 July, and you keep access until 31 December, with no charge the following 1 January.
Prepaid plans don't need cancelling. They expire on their own at the end of the billing period, and an unused one may be refundable. If the developer pulls an app from Google Play, your future subscription is cancelled for you, though past charges generally can't be refunded.
Resubscribing later
Go back to your subscriptions list and click Resubscribe next to the one you want back. Google notes that some subscriptions aren't available to resubscribe to, and when that happens you sign up again from scratch, at whatever the price is now. Check the price before you cancel something you expect to want back in three months.
What Google Play's list doesn't show
Play's list is complete for the subscriptions billed through Google Play, and it stops there. Whatever Google never took payment for is missing:
- Anything you pay for on the company's own website with your card. Most streaming sign-ups made on a laptop are here, along with news sites, storage plans and software. If Netflix is one of them, start with how to cancel Netflix.
- Gym memberships, insurance and other contracts that bill you directly.
- Subscriptions your mobile carrier bills.
- Anything bought on an iPhone in your household. Those sit in Apple's list, so you cancel subscriptions on iPhone in Settings instead.
- Anything on a second Google Account, whether that's a work profile or an old address you still get mail on.
None of that is a flaw in Google Play. A store can only show what it charges you for. But a clean subscriptions screen and a clean statement are two different things, and nothing goes looking for the difference on your behalf. Write them down somewhere, or add them once in Subby, which knows only what you put into it and reminds you before each charge.
One more thing that quietly cancels subscriptions
Google warns that if your payment method is declined or has insufficient funds, your subscription may be cancelled, and you'd have to set it up again. So while you're in Payments & subscriptions, look at the expiry date on your main card, especially for anything you'd rather not lose.
Play only lists what Play bills
The rest are yours to remember. Add each one to Subby, choose how many days of warning you want, and stop finding out on your statement.
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