Audit Your Subscriptions in 30 Minutes (No App Required)

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably just looked at your bank statement and spotted something you don’t recognise. First thing to know: you’re not bad with money. The average UK adult is paying for 4.2 subscriptions they actively use and 2.1 they’ve completely forgotten about.

Second thing: the apps that promise to find and cancel all of them work — mostly, with caveats. Rocket Money will negotiate your phone bill but cannot cancel an Apple-billed subscription (Apple won’t allow it). Bobby is free and beautiful but can only remind you, not cancel anything. Monzo’s Recurring tab shows you the charges but the cancel button takes you back to the merchant’s website where the dark patterns start.

The 30-minute manual audit below works for everyone, costs nothing, and catches all three categories — Apple-billed, Google Play-billed, and bank-card-billed — in the same pass.

Why you need three separate checks

Most people do one check (their bank statement) and think they’re done. They’re missing two entire billing systems:

1. Bank-card-billed subscriptions: visible on your bank statement as direct charges from the merchant
2. Apple-billed subscriptions: charged through Apple and appear on your bank statement as “Apple” or “iTunes” — not as the subscription name
3. Google Play-billed subscriptions: charged through Google and appear as “Google” — not as the subscription name

This is why one bank statement pass misses so much. The Apple and Google charges look like single charges but each one may represent multiple subscriptions bundled into one payment.

Step 1: The Apple audit (5 minutes)

On iPhone, go to: Settings (your name at the top) → Subscriptions.

This screen shows every active Apple-billed subscription and the next billing date. Scroll through slowly — there are often subscriptions from apps you downloaded once for a specific purpose (a travel app for one trip, a photo editor you used twice).

For each subscription: ask yourself “Did I use this in the last 30 days?” If no, cancel immediately. You can always resubscribe if you need it again.

To cancel: tap the subscription → Cancel Subscription. You keep access until the end of the current billing period.

Common surprises in this screen: app subscriptions from gaming apps (especially family-shared), news apps from one free trial you forgot to cancel, and VPN or cloud storage services you replaced with alternatives.

Step 2: The Google Play audit (5 minutes)

On Android, open the Google Play Store → tap your profile icon (top right) → Payments and subscriptions → Subscriptions.

Same process: scroll through, ask “Did I use this in the last 30 days?”, cancel anything you don’t use.

On iPhone, you can also check Google subscriptions: visit subscriptions.google.com in a browser while signed in to your Google account. This catches YouTube Premium, Google One, and Google Play subscriptions regardless of device.

Step 3: The bank statement audit (10 minutes)

Download or view the last 60 days of bank statements. Look for:

• Any merchant name you don’t immediately recognise
• Any recurring charge that appears monthly or annually
• Any “Apple” or “Google” charges (these are the bundled mobile billing charges — you’ve already audited them in steps 1-2, but seeing the totals is useful)
• Any PayPal charges — PayPal is often used for subscription billing and the merchant name may not be obvious

For each unrecognised charge: Google the merchant name + “subscription cancel” to find the cancellation page. Most merchants are required to make cancellation as easy as signup (FTC Click-to-Cancel rule, US; DMCC Act, UK) — if they’re not, that’s illegal and you can dispute the charge with your bank.

Step 4: Amazon Prime and Microsoft 365 (5 minutes)

These are large enough to warrant specific checks:

Amazon Prime: go to amazon.com/mc/homepage → Manage Prime Membership. Also check Amazon for any Subscribe and Save orders that ship automatically.

Microsoft 365: go to account.microsoft.com → Services and subscriptions. This also shows Xbox Game Pass, OneDrive storage upgrades, and any Microsoft apps you may have subscribed to.

Step 5: Everything else (5 minutes)

Check these specifically:

• Your email for “subscription confirmed” or “receipt” emails from the last 12 months
• PayPal: account → Activity → filter by “Subscription” (PayPal allows searching by transaction type)
• Venmo, Cash App: look for recurring payments to businesses
• Any browser password manager saved login pages — if you’re logged in to a service, you may still be paying for it

What to do with what you find

For every subscription you want to cancel:

1. Find the cancellation page (Google “[service name] cancel subscription”)
2. Cancel before the next billing date
3. Screenshot the cancellation confirmation (important for disputes)
4. If the service refuses to cancel or makes it unreasonably difficult: contact your bank and dispute the charge as “subscription I cancelled” — your bank can block future charges from that merchant

When to use an app instead

After you’ve done the 30-minute manual audit once, apps become genuinely useful for ongoing tracking. Our top picks:

• Rocket Money (US): best for ongoing monitoring + bill negotiation. Connects to your bank. Cannot cancel Apple/Google subscriptions but catches everything else.
• Bobby (iOS/Mac): best for manual tracking and reminders. Free, beautiful, privacy-first. Good for adding subscriptions you’ve found manually.
• Monzo/Starling/Revolut (UK): already in your pocket if you use a neo-bank. The Recurring tab is useful for visibility but cannot cancel anything.

The manual audit and the app are complementary, not substitutes. Do the audit first; use the app to maintain what you’ve found.