Americans continue to embrace a subscription-based lifestyle, with most younger demographics actively engaged in various services. However, recent trends indicate a growing price sensitivity among consumers, leading to notable changes in subscription behaviors.
Subscription Spending and Awareness
A study by West Monroe Partners previously highlighted that consumers were unknowingly spending an average of $273 monthly on subscriptions, underscoring the issue of “subscription creep.” This figure remains a reference point for discussions on consumer spending in the subscription economy.
Shifts in Streaming Service Subscriptions
Recent data reveals a trend of increased cancellations among streaming service subscribers. According to a March 2024 survey, younger age groups were most likely to cancel their video streaming subscriptions in the U.S., with, for example, 14% of 18 to 34-year-olds canceling two to five services three months before the survey.
Additionally, a survey conducted in March 2024 found that 44% of respondents canceled their video streaming subscriptions to save money.
A new behavior has emerged among consumers, termed the “subscription pauser.” Instead of canceling services outright, subscribers are opting to pause their subscriptions, resuming them when desired content becomes available. Data from Antenna indicates that the median percentage of subscribers rejoining a service they previously canceled within a year rose to 34.2% in 2024, up from 29.8% in 2022.
How to Cancel Forgotten Subscriptions
In this age of dozens of streaming services and everyone paying for them, many are unaware of how much they’re spending, and there is a growing trend of cancellations. Keeping track of subscriptions allows you to avoid “subscription creep” and ensure you only pay for what you truly value.
1. Smart-Phone/Device Subscriptions
Even though uninstalling an app won’t cancel your subscription, canceling directly on your Android phone is easy. Here’s how:
To Unsubscribe on Google:
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- Open the Google Play Store app.
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- Tap the menu button (three horizontal lines) and choose “Subscriptions”.
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- Find the subscription you want to cancel in the list.
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- Select the subscription and tap “Cancel subscription.”
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- Follow any on-screen instructions to finalize the cancellation.
To Unsubscribe on Apple:
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- Open the “Settings” app on the Apple app store.
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- Tap on your name at the top of the screen (your Apple ID).
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- Select “Subscriptions”.
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- You’ll see a list of your active subscriptions. Choose the one you want to cancel.
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- Tap “Cancel Subscription” (or “Cancel Free Trial” if applicable).
2. Use Subscription-Tracking Tools
These are apps and online tools that track your financial spending in real-time. They work by reviewing your bank records and providing a list of services charged to your account(s).
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- Rocket Money identifies your subscriptions to help you stop paying for things you no longer need. Your concierge is there when you need them to cancel unwanted subscriptions, so you don’t have to.
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- Truebill is an app that tracks all subscriptions, from Netflix to Club memberships. It also analyzes percentage changes in the amounts charged for each item. To opt out, tap cancel on the subscription you want to cancel.
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- Trim works similarly, but it’s an online tool, and the cancellation is done via text.
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- Empower is an app that follows the same script. It shows you the amounts spent on each service and account balances, such as Bank balances, Amazon, Uber, AT&T Wireless, etc. With this information, it becomes easy to cancel specific subscriptions or even renegotiate.
3. Popular Online Sites
How to cancel Onlyfans subscriptions?
OnlyFans is a content subscription service that enables content creators to share content. There are two ways to cancel your subscriptions. First, if you already have an existing account, open your OnlyFans, and log on. Search for the “User’s profile” from which you wish to remove yourself. Then switch off the Auto-Renew. Confirm before finalizing the process. The second way to do this is to send an email to support. They will help you cancel the subscription on their end.
How to cancel ProBiller subscriptions
ProBiller is an online merchant gateway for a variety of subscription services. If you’ve seen a charge on your account from ProBiller, it is likely a charge through one of their merchants. If you’re unsure of which site the subscription is through, you can contact ProBiller to determine which site the subscription is through.
You can cancel your ProBiller subscriptions by calling the customer helpdesk and requesting a conversation with a customer support agent. Ensure that you have all the details of your account ready. Provide the agent with account information and the service you want to unsubscribe from. Request that your fee be refunded where necessary, and ask for an email from them to confirm the cancellation.
How to cancel Cashapp subscriptions
CashApp is a mobile app that allows users to send money to others. For iPhone and iPad users, go to settings on the app, then click on your name. After that, click the ‘Subscriptions’ option. If you can’t find the option immediately, go to iTunes and Appstore for help. Once the ‘Subscription’ is up, click on your ID for Apple and sign in, then look for the subscription option when you scroll downward. Next, click on the ‘CashApp’ (subscription) that you wish to remove, then click ‘Cancel.’ If you can’t locate the cancel button, it is likely that you have successfully canceled the subscription.
For Android users, go to the Google Play store, tap the menu, and click ‘Subscriptions.’ Select the ‘Cashapp subscription’ to be canceled, and click ‘Cancel subscription.’
4. Email and Manual Subscriptions
Not all subscriptions originate from app stores. It’s easy to find some forgotten subscriptions you may have made ages ago on your computer. The same goes for subscriptions filled in manually at the mall, on the street, at fairs, etc. It’s possible the subscription notifications come as spam mail (let’s be honest, you never read those).
The best approach is to search through your emails for any subscriptions. You can cancel the subscriptions by emailing the service providers. If this proves elusive, then go through your bank statements going back 12 months. Look out for regular subscriptions that you forgot or are fraudulent. You can cancel them via the respective websites or by emailing the respective companies.
Is there an easier way to cancel subscriptions?
Having to go through bank records that may or may not contain subscriptions doesn’t sound interesting at all. Subscriptions made on smart devices are even harder to keep track of; your kids can tap on a new one or make in-app purchases every now and then. So is there an easy way to do this? Yes, there is…
The Take-Away
It’s easy to have fraudulent and unwanted subscriptions eating away at your finances. With the onset of automated payment systems, the problem becomes compounded. Go through your bills and bank statements to weed out these payments. You can also use the ‘Cancel Subscription’ option on smart devices. A much easier approach is to use online tools and apps to monitor and cancel unwanted subscriptions.
