The app to stop subscriptions before they charge you again
Stopping a subscription is a timing problem. The charge is on a date, the cancel button is on a screen you rarely open, and the two never meet until the receipt arrives. On Top of Subs fixes the timing: it holds every subscription and free trial with its renewal date, warns you before each one bills, and opens the store's own cancellation screen in one tap when you decide to stop. Free on iPhone and Android, no bank login.
Stopping a subscription means beating one of three dates
Every unwanted charge is one of these, and each has a slightly different fix.
- The renewal date. Monthly or yearly, the plan bills again on a fixed day unless auto-renew is off before then. Cancel ahead of it and you keep what you paid for until the period ends.
- The trial conversion date. A free trial is a subscription with a countdown. It converts to the paid plan the moment the countdown ends, and Apple asks you to cancel at least 24 hours before that.
- The notice period. Card-billed services, gyms and cable most of all, may require notice and bill once more after you cancel. Stopping them means cancelling early and checking the next statement.
The app is built around those dates. Every entry carries its next one, the reminder fires ahead of it, and the cancel tap takes you to the screen that can actually stop the charge: Apple's subscription sheet for App Store subscriptions, the Play Store subscriptions center for Google Play, and a walkthrough for anything a company bills directly.
From "stop charging me" to stopped, in three steps
- Add it with its date. Name, price, next renewal or trial end, and where it is billed. A few seconds, and the app now knows when the next charge is coming.
- Get the nudge in time. The reminder arrives ahead of the date, not after the receipt. Decide then: keep it, or stop it.
- Tap, confirm, done. For App Store and Google Play subscriptions the tap opens the store's own cancellation screen and you confirm there. For a card-billed service the tap opens the walkthrough, and you cancel in the company's account or by phone.
Stop a renewal
Cancel before the renewal date and the plan runs to the end of what you paid for, then stops. Annual plans are the ones to catch early: the reminder for those is worth a week of warning.
Stop a trial converting
Cancel at least a day before the trial ends. Most apps let the trial run to its end date after you cancel; a few end it immediately, so cancel late in the trial if you still want the days.
Stop a card-billed service
No store in the middle, so no store screen. The walkthrough covers the account page or the phone call, and the notice period that can mean one more charge before it stops.
Cancelling stops the future, not the past
Three expectations worth resetting so a stopped subscription stays stopped.
Deleting the app does not stop the billing. The subscription lives with whoever takes the money, and it keeps charging until you cancel it there. This is the single most common way people think they have stopped something and have not.
Stopping is not a refund. Cancelling ends the next charge and leaves the last one where it is. A refund is a separate request: Apple's report-a-problem page for App Store charges, the order history in Google Play for Google Play charges, and the company itself for anything billed by card.
Pausing is a Google Play thing. Some Google Play subscriptions offer a pause option for a few months instead of a full stop. Apple has no equivalent, so on the App Store stopping means cancelling and subscribing again later if you change your mind. Either way, a stopped subscription should disappear from the next statement, and the one after; if it does not, the finding guide explains how to trace the charge to its channel.
Questions about stopping subscriptions
Yes, with one limit that applies to every app: only Apple's and Google's own screens can stop an App Store or Google Play subscription. On Top of Subs, free on iPhone and Android, gets you there in one tap and reminds you before each renewal so you act in time. Services billed by card get a walkthrough instead.
Open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions, pick the subscription, and tap Cancel Subscription before the renewal date shown. You keep access until that date. On Top of Subs opens that same screen from your list in one tap, and reminds you before the date so you do not miss it.
Cancel it at least a day before the trial ends, which is the notice Apple asks for. The end date is shown next to the trial on the store's subscription screen. Add the trial to On Top of Subs with that date and the reminder arrives a couple of days ahead, with the cancel screen one tap away.
On Google Play, some subscriptions can be paused for a set number of months from the subscriptions center, if the app supports it. The App Store has no pause; you cancel and can subscribe again later. Services billed by card vary, and a few gyms and streaming services offer a pause in the account settings.
Not on its own. Cancelling prevents the next charge and leaves the last one in place. For an App Store charge, request a refund at reportaproblem.apple.com; for Google Play, use the order's refund request in Play; for a card-billed service, ask the company. Each decides case by case.
It tracks them with the same reminders, and the cancel tap opens a walkthrough for the service rather than a store screen, because there is none. For services with a notice period, the walkthrough says so, and the app keeps the entry in your list until the next statement confirms it stopped.
Beat the date, every time.
A reminder before every renewal and every trial conversion, and one tap to the cancel screen when you decide to stop. Free on iOS & Android.