How to keep track of subscriptions (a system that actually sticks)
Keeping track of subscriptions fails for the same reason every time: no single place has the full list. Apple only knows Apple billing, Google only knows Google Play, and your bank only sees the card you're looking at. So you need one list of your own. The system that sticks is the one that reminds you on its own: an app with built-in reminders, or a spreadsheet you point a calendar alert at. Add the monthly review and it survives past week one.
"I'll just keep track of it" is the most optimistic sentence in personal finance, and it's usually dead by the second billing cycle. The subscriptions don't stop, you stop updating the list, and within a month you're back to finding charges on a statement. This isn't a discipline problem — it's a design problem. Every tool you already have only sees one slice of your subscriptions, so no effort of will keeps a complete list in your head. The fix is to pick one system, set it up once, and let it remind you.
Why "keeping track" keeps failing
A subscription isn't one thing. It's a billing arrangement with whoever takes the money, and there are three of them. Apple keeps the list of App Store subscriptions. Google keeps the list of Google Play subscriptions. Every company that bills you directly — Netflix bought on the web, your gym, cloud storage, a newsletter — keeps its own records and its own cancellation flow.
None of those lists knows about the others. Apple Settings shows you only Apple billing, and it won't remind you about a gym membership. That's why the search for "how to keep track of subscriptions" ends in a wall of app suggestions: the problem is structural, not a missing feature. You need a system that pulls all three slices into one place and then reminds you about them.
The three systems people actually use
Every approach that works is one of these. They differ in how much they rely on you.
1. The native lists plus a spreadsheet
The cheapest version: export what you can from Apple Settings and the Google Play subscriptions center, then keep a spreadsheet with one row per subscription — name, price, renewal date, billing channel. It works, and it's genuinely enough for people with a short list. The failure mode is the reminders: a spreadsheet doesn't remind you of anything, so the review happens when you remember, which is the same thing that failed before. Fix it by adding a calendar alert for the first of each month and one for each annual renewal.
2. A bank-scanning app
Rocket Money and similar tools link to your bank and pull out recurring charges automatically, which is the single best way to catch charges you forgot. The trade-offs are real: you hand over bank credentials, the scan only sees what hits your linked cards (not App Store subscriptions billed another way), and the useful features sit behind a monthly subscription — which, for a tool whose job is saving you money, is worth a raised eyebrow.
3. A tracker with reminders, plus the exit
On Top of Subs takes the spreadsheet approach and adds the two things spreadsheets can't: it reminds you before anything renews, and it knows which channel bills each subscription. Add a free trial, and you get a nudge before it converts. See a subscription you don't want, and one tap opens the App Store or Google Play cancellation screen — the exit is right beside the list. It runs on iPhone and Android, keeps everything on your device, and needs no bank login.
One list. Reminders before anything bills you.
Keep every subscription and free trial in one place on your phone, see your monthly total, and open the cancellation screen in one tap when something has to go. Free on iPhone and Android, no bank login.
How to set it up so it survives
Whichever system you pick, the setup is the same five steps. The whole thing takes about twenty minutes and a cup of coffee.
- Audit once. Check the four places subscriptions are billed: Apple Settings, the Google Play subscriptions center, your card and bank statements for the last 90 days, and PayPal or Amazon. Our find-every-subscription guide walks all four in order.
- Record three fields per subscription. Name, price, renewal date — plus the billing channel, because that's the field that decides where you cancel, and it's the one everyone leaves out.
- Put the renewal dates somewhere they'll surface. A calendar entry per renewal, a spreadsheet row with a monthly review note, or a tracker app with reminders built in. The system fails at the moment it relies on you remembering to look.
- Review once a month. Flag anything you haven't used. Forgotten subscriptions surface when the list is looked at, not when it's created — which is why a system that makes the review a glance beats a system that makes it a project.
- Cancel what you don't want. Do it where each one is billed. For App Store and Google Play subscriptions you keep access to a trial until it ends even if you cancel on day one, so there's no reason to wait for the last day.
The monthly review (thirty seconds, once a month)
A tracking system that's looked at monthly catches everything. A tracking system that's set up and ignored is a list with a timestamp. The review is deliberately short: open the list, look at the renewals for the next thirty days, and ask one question about anything that's renewing — did I use it? If the answer is no, cancel it now, because nothing is cheaper than a subscription you're not using.
This is where the choice of system reveals itself. A spreadsheet review requires you to open a file and cross-check dates. A tracker app with reminders does the same job by surfacing the renewal on the day you need to decide — which is why the reminders, not the list, are what makes tracking stick.
Frequently asked questions
For most people, a tracker app with built-in reminders is the easiest: you add each subscription once, it shows your monthly total, and it nudges you before renewals instead of relying on you to remember. A spreadsheet works if you're disciplined about opening it.
Yes. On Top of Subs, free on iPhone and Android, keeps every subscription and free trial in one list on your device, shows your monthly spend, and reminds you before anything renews. It also labels which channel bills each one, so cancelling means one tap instead of a hunt.
Open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions. That lists everything billed through Apple — but only Apple billing. Direct-billed subscriptions won't appear there, which is why a single list of your own ends up being necessary.
Yes. A spreadsheet or a notes app works, with one column each for the name, price, renewal date, and billing channel. The system fails only when nothing reminds you to update it — so add a calendar alert to review the sheet monthly.
App Store and Google Play subscriptions show their next renewal date on the store's own subscription screen. For anything else, the renewal date is in your account with the company, and you have to record it yourself. A tracker with reminders is the reliable way to make sure one isn't missed.