How to cancel subscriptions on your iPhone
Cancel subscriptions that you no longer use with your iPhone.
Problem solved, USA TODAY
Not a weekend goes by without Theresa Krakauskas relaxing in front of the television. Fortunately for her, there is plenty of choice: “Mad Men” on AMC+. Horror movies on Netflix. Or another retelling of the hit Broadway play “Hamilton” on Disney+.
In all, she adheres to nine streaming platforms. That’s in addition to a Barnes & Noble subscription to get discounts on e-books, a Freekibble subscription to donate food to shelter animals, and a premium account for virtual pet website Neopets.
Welcome to the subscription economy. How many subscriptions do you pay for? You may have more than you think.
It’s not just the streaming services Hulu, Netflix and Apple TV+. As gym memberships and magazine subscriptions of yesteryear, we subscribe to digital en masse, whether for meal kits, clothing, toys or ride-sharing services. services.
Then, these companies charge our credit and debit cards month after month with the relentlessness of metronomes – whether we still use these services or not.
According to some estimates, the the subscription economy has more than quadrupled During the last decade.
Subscription Costs Are Skyrocketing: You May Be Paying More Than You Think
Subscriptions offer convenience and access to premium features, but they can also be expensive.
Meredith Martin, of Silver Spring, Maryland, remembers when her Disney+ subscription cost around $80 a year. After the price increase, she pays $140.
“When Disney+ started, I was like, ‘Oh, wow, $80 and all these movies.’ It’s amazing,” said Martin, 40. “Now that it’s $140, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, well, we’re sucked into this and my kids love ‘Bluey.’ So let’s go.’
Research shows that the the average consumer spends $219 on subscriptions each month. That’s $133 more than they think, according to a 2022 survey from C+R Research.
Many people continue to pay for subscriptions they don’t use
Consumers often lose track of the myriad services they subscribe to.
Nearly three-quarters of consumers say it’s easy to forget about recurring monthly fees. Some 42% say they I forgot the subscriptions and continued to pay for them even though they no longer used them.
Recurring fees from unwanted free trials, auto-renewals, and monthly subscriptions can be a dead weight on budgets already squeezed by higher prices.
Krakauskas said that for years she was paying nearly $75 a year for subscriptions to three magazines she no longer read. She finally thought about canceling the subscriptions in October.
“Christmas is coming. I was thinking I need to cut back on some things,” she said.
Increase in prices for Netflix, Disney+, Hulu: With the cost of streaming services increasing, how can you save.
Companies profit from our carelessness
Inertia or forgetting can be lucrative for businesses, increasing revenue by 14% to more than 200%, according to a new study from economists from Stanford University and Texas A&M watch.
“While subscription products may provide convenient benefits to consumers, they may also allow companies to exploit inattentive subscribers,” the researchers said.
According to the study, cancellation rates increase when consumers are asked to make a renewal decision.
People are four times more likely to cancel a subscription when they’re asked to make an “active choice,” such as when a credit card expires, Stanford economics professor Neal Mahoney told USA TODAY.
“If you look at the other purchases on the map — gas, groceries, physical retail — those are not going down,” he said.
He says he only has to look for an example in his own life.
“I signed up for Paramount+ to watch Champions League football during the winter and spring of last year, but of course during the summer I forgot to cancel. So for six months I forgot, and then a few months ago, when the sports season started again, I said, “I should sign up for Paramount+.” Oh, wait a minute, I’m signed up,” Mahoney said.
Breaking a Subscription Can Be Difficult to Do
But the difficulty can be very real when it comes to canceling a subscription. The prospect of hours-long customer service calls or multi-step online hurdles can lead to procrastination.
In fact, federal regulators say it may be too difficult to break a subscription.
While some subscriptions can be canceled with a few clicks or a phone call, when companies make it difficult to cancel a subscription, customers can be stuck with monthly fees long after they no longer want or have no longer need a product or service, said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Levine says that’s intentional. Unwanted subscriptions have become such a headache for consumers that a cottage industry of apps to help subscribers find and cancel subscriptions has emerged, he said.
“We know that signing up for a subscription is so easy it’s miraculous. This is why we know that the difficulty of cancellation is no accident. It’s a choice. And it’s a choice that causes real harm to consumers,” he told USA TODAY.
In June, the consumer watchdog sued Amazon, alleging it tricked consumers into signing up for Prime using “manipulative, coercive, or deceptive” tactics known as “dark patterns.” ”, and that he had then made the cancellation “knowingly complicated”.
Amazon has denied the FTC’s claims. “The FTC’s assertions are factually and legally false,” Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle said in a statement. “The truth is, customers love Prime, and by design we make it clear and simple for customers to sign up or cancel their Prime membership.
Levine declined to comment on the litigation, but said the alleged practices are not unique to Amazon. In 2023, the FTC said it received more than 30,000 complaints about “opt-in” memberships or subscriptions – when consumers agree to be automatically charged for a free trial or discount and the billing does not proceed. stops only after proactively canceling.
FTC Sends Vonage Customers nearly $100 million in reimbursements after the agency said the Internet phone service provider was making it difficult to cancel service. In 2020, online learning app ABCmouse agreed to pay $10 million to pay FTC fees that it did not inform consumers that the subscription would be automatically renewed.
“A wallet problem that affects so many Americans”
The FTC proposed a new “Click to undo” rule that would make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to take one out, Levine said.
The rule would require companies to make the cancellation process similar to the registration process; So if a customer registers online in a three-step process, they should also be able to cancel online in three steps. No more one-click registration process and lengthy phone calls to cancel.
Sellers should also send annual reminders to customers receiving non-physical goods before their subscription automatically renews, and ask for permission before offering additional offers or changes to a consumer attempting to cancel.
Levine said he recently realized he was paying for a rental car service he hadn’t used in more than a year.
“This is a critical financial issue that affects so many Americans,” Levine told USA TODAY. “It’s time for consumers to take back control of their wallets. And that starts by regaining control of subscriptions.
The FTC has collected more than 1,000 public comments, and Levine says the vast majority are positive, although there has been strong opposition from industry players.
Commercial Groups: Federal Trade Commission “Click to Undo” Rule Not Necessary
Trade groups say a multi-step cancellation process protects consumers or allows them to get a better deal. In a comment submitted to the FTC, the News/Media Alliance, which represents publishers, said automatic renewal of newspaper and magazine subscriptions “does not result in widespread complaints or dissatisfied consumers.”
The Association of National Advertisers said the FTC rule could cause more problems for consumers, such as accidental cancellations.
But some organizations say the FTC doesn’t go far enough.
“The problem with free trial conversions and recurring subscriptions is that they really take positive consumer choice out of the equation,” said Erin Witte, director of consumer protection for the consumer advocacy group Consumer Federation of America.
The National Consumer League, a consumer defense organization, sent a letter to the FTC in June urging the agency to further strengthen the proposed rule by requiring companies to seek consumer consent for automatic charges within six days before a free trial converts to a paid subscription and to notify consumers before receiving each recurring costs.
“No honest business should depend on its customers forgetting that they are paying money to make a profit,” read a statement from Eden Iscil, NCL’s head of public policy.
Pam Davis, a 40-year-old mom from Petoskey, Michigan, recently looked at her bank statements and discovered she was paying nearly $50 a month for four services she didn’t know she subscribed to.
She said it took her nearly 45 minutes to cancel a local newspaper subscription over the phone.
“You think, what’s $5 here and there? But it’s not just $5. It’s $10 and $15. It really adds up,” she said.
How do I find all my subscriptions?
Monitor your debit and credit card statements regularly. Also check any services billed through the Apple or Google stores.
How do I check my subscriptions in the Apple App Store?
On your iPhone, go to settings, tap profile then subscriptions. Make sure you have checked the Renewal Receipts box to be alerted.
How do I manage my Google Play subscriptions?
On an Android device, go to the Play Store, tap the menu icon and search for subscriptions.
How to stop unwanted subscriptions?
Keep an eye out for renewal notices and price increase notices in your inbox. Set up calendar alerts to avoid automatic renewals. Use a subscription management app.