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Free trials: how to cancel before the first charge

Find the exact end date and time, know what the first charge will be, cancel at least a day early, set two reminders and keep proof. Plus what to do if a charge lands anyway.

Trials Published · Updated · 8 min read

To cancel a free trial before it charges you, find the exact moment the trial ends, cancel at least a day before it, and keep proof that you did. If the trial was billed through Apple, Apple’s own advice is to cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends. The rest of this page shows how to find that moment, how to work out what the first charge will be, and what to do if a charge lands anyway.

If you gave a payment method, a free trial is a subscription that has already started, and the date that matters is the last moment you can cancel it, which can be earlier than the moment the trial ends.

Find the exact end date and time

“30 days free” is a length, not a date. Work out the real deadline on the day you sign up. Where you look depends on who bills you.

  • Billed through Apple. Open your Apple subscriptions (App Store) and select the service. Apple’s page on cancelling a subscription has the steps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows and other devices, and our page on cancelling Apple subscriptions explains the route. If you cannot find the subscription, Apple suggests searching your email for “receipt from Apple” or “invoice from Apple” and checking which Apple Account it names.
  • Billed through Google Play. Open your subscriptions in Google Play while signed in to the Google Account that started the trial. Google says that if you accept a trial offer you will get an email when the trial is about to end, but do not rely on that email alone.
  • Billed directly by the service. Check the confirmation email and the billing or membership page of your account. The offer terms should state the trial length and how and when to cancel.

Write down the date and the time. If a time is shown, note which time zone it uses, because a deadline stated in another time zone can arrive earlier than you expect. If you only see a date, treat the morning of the day before as your deadline.

Not sure who bills you? Before the first charge, the sign-up confirmation or receipt email may name the store or company; after it, your bank or card statement shows the name on the charge. Our guide to working out who is billing you walks through both.

Know what the first charge will be

Before you start a trial, read three things on the offer page and note them next to the end date:

  1. The price after the trial. A trial that says “then $X” will normally charge that amount when it ends.
  2. The billing cycle. Monthly and annual plans behave very differently. An annual plan usually means one larger charge, so a missed deadline costs more.
  3. Whether it is a free trial or an introductory price. A free trial charges nothing at first. An introductory price is a discounted paid period that later moves to the regular price.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) makes a similar point about auto-renewals: a renewal might charge more than you paid last time, for example if you started at a promotional rate. Its advice is to read the renewal notice closely to confirm the rate, and to know exactly when a promotional period ends.

When to cancel, and what happens to your access

Do not aim for the last hour. Both big app stores say to cancel before the trial ends, and Apple asks for at least 24 hours:

  • Apple says that if you do not want a trial subscription to renew, you should cancel it at least 24 hours before the trial ends. Apple’s US media services terms add that you can be charged up to 24 hours before a subscription period starts.
  • Google Play says that to avoid charges you should cancel the subscription before the trial period expires.

Whether you keep the remaining trial days after cancelling depends on the provider. For example, the draft Match and DIRECTV guides say cancelling a trial ends access immediately, but both are unverified drafts. Neither Apple’s nor Google’s cancellation page settles this for every service: Google says you keep access for time you have already paid for, but its page does not mention trials. So check before you confirm:

  • Read the cancellation screen, which may state when access ends.
  • After cancelling with Apple, open the subscription again. Apple says that an expiration message in red text, or no Cancel button, means it is already cancelled.
  • Look for a confirmation email that names an end date.

Apple’s terms also say that if you start a free trial of a subscription Apple itself provides and cancel before it ends, you cannot reactivate that free trial. So if you want to use every day, set a reminder for shortly before the deadline instead of cancelling on day one.

Do not assume that deleting an app cancels its subscription. Google’s help page says that uninstalling an app does not cancel the subscription, and the draft Noom guide says the same for that service.

Set two reminders and keep the proof

The FTC’s advice for anyone taking a free trial is to mark your calendar, because once the deadline to cancel passes you might be on the hook for more payments. Make it two reminders:

  • Three days before the deadline: decide whether you want to keep it.
  • The day before the deadline: cancel if you have not already.

In each calendar entry, put the service name, the price after the trial and the cancel link. If you use a tracker, Aurabill for iPhone sends trial reminders by default 3 days and 1 day before the trial end date you enter, when there is still time for them. Each subscription’s reminders are on unless you switch them off, and they arrive only if you allow Aurabill’s notifications. It works from the date you enter and does not watch the provider’s account, so if the provider sets an earlier cancel-by deadline, such as Apple’s 24 hours, keep that deadline in mind as well.

When you cancel, keep the evidence. The FTC suggests keeping a copy of your cancellation request along with notes on any conversations you had. In practice that means:

  • a screenshot of the cancellation confirmation, showing the date;
  • the confirmation email, if one arrives;
  • the name of anyone you spoke to, with the date and time of the call.

If a charge lands anyway

First compare the charge date with your notes, then work out who billed you, since that decides who can help. Our page on what to do if you are still charged after cancelling has more detail. In short:

  1. Check that the cancellation went through and that the charge is not for a different subscription.
  2. Contact the company that billed you, using contact details from its own website, and send your proof.
  3. For Apple-billed subscriptions, Apple’s billing support page says App Store purchases may be eligible for a refund and links to a refund request. Apple’s refund page says eligibility might vary by country or region, so a refund may not be available.
  4. The FTC says that if you are charged without your consent and the company will not refund you, you can dispute the charge with your credit or debit card company. Whether a missed-trial charge you agreed to at sign-up qualifies is for your card issuer to decide, so ask early (see the still-charged checklist).
  5. In the US, you can also report problems cancelling to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or to your state attorney general.

Some providers publish a short window after the first paid charge. The draft Amazon Prime guide describes a US window of 3 business days after paid signup or conversion from a trial, with possible deductions for benefits used. The draft Noom guide describes a 14-day refund-request period after the initial charge for Noom Weight. Both guides are unverified drafts, so read the provider’s own terms; a window is not a right you can assume.

Our cancellation guides are drafts awaiting human verification, a starting point rather than a replacement for a provider’s current instructions. The draft guides for Audible, SiriusXM, Peloton and Noom begin by pointing you to your billing provider, and the Amazon Prime draft covers Google Play and partner billing in its last step. SiriusXM’s own help page makes a similar split: subscriptions and trials started directly with SiriusXM are managed in its Online Account Center, and a subscription billed by another company is managed with that billing provider.

What the FTC advises you to look for in an offer

The FTC publishes plain-language advice on free trials. It says the terms of an offer should tell you exactly what you are agreeing to, the length of the trial, and how and when to cancel. It adds that, under the rules it describes, businesses have to tell you how to cancel before they get your card details, and it says to uncheck pre-checked boxes you do not agree with.

That page is dated September 2024 and is general consumer guidance for the US. In March 2026 the FTC asked for public comment on its Negative Option Rule, and its press release refers to a 2024 version of that rule as vacated, so US rules may change. Rules also differ by country and by provider, so treat the page as a checklist for reading an offer, not a statement of your rights in a dispute. If you cannot find the trial length or the cancellation method, the FTC’s advice is not to sign up.

Sources

Guides open live from the same content the app uses, and each one shows whether a person has checked it yet.

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