How to avoid being charged after a free trial
Before you start a free trial, find out when it ends and how to cancel, then set a reminder for a day or two before. Cancel early: Apple says to cancel an App Store trial at least 24 hours before it ends. The FTC notes that free trials usually take your card number so the company can charge you if you don’t cancel in time.
Before you sign up
- Find the terms. The FTC says they should tell you exactly what you are agreeing to, how long the trial lasts, and how and when to cancel if you don’t want to be charged. If you can’t find them, or don’t understand them, don’t sign up.
- Know the price afterwards. Note what the trial turns into and how often you will be billed.
- Watch for pre-checked boxes. The FTC warns that a box already ticked for you may let the company keep charging you after the trial, sign you up for more products, or share your information. Untick anything you don’t agree to.
- “Free” with a fee isn’t free. If a trial asks you to pay for shipping or another fee, the FTC warns you may see higher charges later.
After you sign up
- Put the end date in your calendar, with a reminder before it. Make it a day or two early: App Store trials need cancelling at least 24 hours before they end, and other companies set their own deadlines in their terms.
- Decide before the reminder fires. If you already know you won’t keep it, cancel straight away so the date can’t slip by; some services end the trial as soon as you cancel, so check the terms first.
- Cancel where you subscribed: in the App Store or Google Play for a trial you started in an app, or on the company’s website. See how to cancel a subscription on iPhone or Android.
- Watch your statements. The FTC suggests monitoring your credit and debit card statements so you know right away about a charge you didn’t expect.
Charged anyway?
Contact the company first and keep a record of your cancellation. If you can’t cancel, the FTC suggests calling your credit card company and asking it to stop the payments, and disputing any charge you didn’t authorize. For App Store and Google Play purchases, the stores’ help pages explain how to ask for a refund.
When a trial becomes a renewal
The FTC also warns that an automatic renewal can cost more than you paid before, for example when a promotional rate ends. When a renewal notice arrives, check the price it shows; if it isn’t what you expected, contact the company before the charge.
Where Renewal Day helps
Add a trial to Renewal Day and it sits in its own panel on Upcoming, with the price it converts to and the date of the first charge. Trial reminders arrive two days before and the day before. For gyms, insurance or contracts that need notice, a cancel-by setting counts the reminders down to the last day to cancel instead of the charge date.
You enter each trial yourself: Renewal Day has no bank linking and doesn’t detect subscriptions automatically.
Renewal Day is coming soon to iPhone and Android.
Sources
- Federal Trade Commission: Getting In and Out of Free Trials, Auto-Renewals, and Negative Option Subscriptions
- Apple Support: Cancel a subscription from Apple
- Google Play Help: Cancel, pause, or change a subscription on Google Play
Steps follow Apple’s and Google’s published help pages as of October 2026; menus can change, so their pages, linked above, are the current reference. Renewal Day is an independent app from intellidip and is not affiliated with Apple or Google. This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice.