A subscription audit checklist helps you find every recurring charge and cancel the ones you don't use. Go through a full year of bank and card statements, check your App Store and Google Play subscription lists, write down each charge with its price and renewal date, then cancel through the right channel and confirm it stopped.
Set aside about an hour. You need your statements, your phone, your email inbox and a simple list on paper, in Notes or in a spreadsheet. Here is the full checklist, plus what to do when a charge is hard to trace or won't stop.
Gather 12 months of statements for every credit card, debit card and bank account you use. A full year matters because annual renewals show up only once.
Mark every charge that repeats. Monthly ones appear every month at a similar amount. For annual ones, look for the same company name about a year apart.
Open your Apple subscriptions. On iPhone, go to Settings, tap your name, then tap Subscriptions. Write each one down.
Check your Apple purchase history. In the App Store, tap your photo or initials, tap Apps & Purchase History, then tap Purchase History. If you know a charge amount but not what it was for, search for the amount. Apple notes that unfamiliar charges might be several purchases grouped into one bill, or something a family member bought.
Check Google Play if you buy through Android or a Google account. Go to subscriptions in Google Play, and make sure you are signed in to the Google Account that holds them.
Search your email for words like "receipt", "renewal", "subscription" and "your plan" to catch services billed straight to your card.
Build one list with these columns: name, price, how often it bills, next renewal date, who bills you (Apple, Google or the company itself) and when you last used it.
Decide on each one: keep it, cancel it or move to a cheaper plan.
Cancel in the right place (see the next section) and confirm it worked.
Save proof. Keep a screenshot or confirmation email and note the date you canceled.
Check your next statement to make sure the charge did not come back.
Billed by Apple. On iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, tap Subscriptions, tap the subscription, then tap Cancel Subscription. You can also cancel on the web at account.apple.com. Apple says that if there is no Cancel button, or you see an expiration message in red text, the subscription is already canceled.
If a subscription is not in that list, Apple suggests searching your email for "receipt from Apple" or "invoice from Apple" and checking which Apple Account is on the receipt. If it is a family member's account, they have to cancel it, because you can't cancel a family member's subscription. If there is no Apple receipt at all, check your bank or card statement and contact the company that bills you.
Billed by Google Play. Go to subscriptions in Google Play, select the subscription, tap Cancel subscription and follow the instructions. Google says uninstalling an app does not cancel its subscription, and after you cancel you can keep using it for the time you have already paid.
Billed directly to your card or bank. Cancel with the company itself, through its account settings or customer service, and keep a copy of your cancellation request and notes on any calls. If the company takes money straight from your bank account, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggests telling the company you are taking away your permission, telling your bank you have revoked it, and following up with both in writing. Some banks may suggest a stop payment order, which generally comes with a fee. Stopping the payments does not cancel the service itself, so cancel that too.
If a free trial is about to end, our guide on how to cancel a free trial on iPhone covers the timing in detail.
A yearly plan charges once, then stays off your statements for 11 months, which makes it easy to forget. A few habits help:
Search the past 12 months of statements, not just the last one or two.
Convert every price to a yearly cost so you compare fairly. $12.99 a month is $155.88 a year, and a $119 yearly plan is about $9.92 a month.
Write down each renewal date and set a reminder a week or two before it, so you have time to decide.
Before a plan renews, ask whether you used it enough in the past year to pay for it again.
When did I last use it?
Am I paying for the same thing twice, such as two music or two cloud storage plans?
Is there a cheaper plan that covers what I actually use?
Could I cancel now and sign up again only when I need it?
Is someone else in my household already paying for it?
The Federal Trade Commission's advice is to watch your bank and card statements for charges after you cancel. If a company keeps charging you after you cancel, you can file a dispute, also called a chargeback, with your credit or debit card company. If you were charged for a subscription you never agreed to, you can report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or to your state attorney general.
A full audit once or twice a year, plus a quick monthly look at your Apple or Google subscription list, is a simple rhythm to start with. Also check before any annual renewal date.
No. Google says uninstalling an app does not cancel its subscription. On iPhone, Apple's cancellation steps are in Settings, under your name and then Subscriptions, so cancel there rather than relying on deleting the app.
It may be billed to a different Apple Account, to a family member's account, or directly by the company. Search your email for "receipt from Apple" to see which account was used. If there is no Apple receipt, check your statement for the company that bills you.
MoneyShield is a private subscription tracker that stays on your iPhone, with a 30-day timeline of upcoming charges, reminders for renewals, trial ends and cancel-by dates, and a guided monthly review. Its Cancel First list ranks subscriptions to consider cancelling with a reason for each, and its Cancellation Assistant points you to official cancellation routes with checklists and request templates. It never connects to your bank or scans your email, and it does not cancel anything for you, so the statement check in step 1 still matters.
Get MoneyShield free on the App Store
Apple Support: View your purchase history for the App Store and other Apple media services
Google Play Help: Cancel, pause, or change a subscription on Google Play
FTC Consumer Advice: How to stop subscriptions you never ordered
CFPB: How do I stop automatic payments from my bank account?