How to remember to cancel a free trial (before it starts charging)

The most reliable way to remember to cancel a free trial is not to rely on remembering at all. Find the exact moment the trial turns into a paid plan, set two reminders before it (one a few days ahead, one the day before), and where the service allows it, cancel straight away and keep using the trial until it runs out. Then check your statement after the end date to make sure nothing was taken. That's how to remember to cancel a free trial with a full diary and a phone full of notifications competing for your attention.

The sign-up takes thirty seconds, the end date sits in an email you'll never open again, and the first payment goes through while you're doing something else. The fix is a small, boring routine you run every time.

Why free trials are so easy to forget

It helps to know what you're up against. Most missed cancellations come down to one of these:

• The end date is vaguer than it looks. "Seven days free" might mean seven days from sign-up, seven days from the next midnight, or until a particular time of day. Some charge at the very start of the last day.
• The reminder lives in the wrong place. A date you meant to remember, or an email you starred, isn't a reminder. It won't interrupt you at the right moment.
• You signed up somewhere unusual. A trial started through your phone's app store, a games console, a smart TV or a payment account is cancelled there, not on the company's website, and that's often where people go wrong.
• The trial was a means to an end. You wanted one programme, one recipe plan, one month of a service for a trip. Once that's done, the trial drops out of your head completely.

How to remember to cancel a free trial: the five-minute routine

Do this at the moment you sign up, not later. Later is when it gets forgotten.

1. Find the real end point. Before you finish signing up, look for the line that says when the first payment is taken. Check whether it's counted in days or by a date, and whether a time is given. If the confirmation email or the account page shows an exact date, use that over your own maths.
2. Write down what it turns into. Note how much it will charge, how often (monthly or yearly), and which card or account it will come from. A yearly plan is a much bigger surprise than a monthly one, so pay extra attention if that's what the trial rolls into.
3. Find out how you'd cancel. Look up where the cancel option lives before you need it: your phone's subscription settings, the provider's account page or the payment account you used. If it's buried, that's useful to know now.
4. Set two reminders. One about three days before the end, one the day before. Use something that will actually interrupt you, like a phone reminder or a calendar alert with a sound, not a note you have to remember to read.
5. Make the reminder say what to do. "Cancel trial" isn't much help in three weeks. "Cancel the meal plan trial in phone settings, ends Thursday morning" is.

If you can't spare the five minutes to do this, that's usually a sign the trial isn't worth starting.

Should you cancel straight away?

Often the safest option is to cancel on day one. Many services let you keep using the trial until its end date even after you've cancelled, so you lose nothing and there's nothing left to remember.

Before you do, check how that particular service handles it:

• Access continues to the end date. This is common with subscriptions managed through a phone's app store. Cancel at once and enjoy the rest of the trial.
• Access ends the moment you cancel. Some services cut you off immediately. In that case, don't cancel early: rely on your two reminders instead.
• The offer depends on staying subscribed. A few trials come with extras that vanish if you cancel. Decide whether you actually care about those.

If the help pages don't say which applies, set your reminders and cancel a couple of days before the end.

Where to cancel, depending on how you signed up

The place you signed up is almost always the place you cancel. Use this as a quick guide:

• Through your phone's app store. Cancel in your phone's subscription settings. Deleting the app does nothing to the subscription.
• On the company's own website. Log in, go to your account or billing page, and look for an option to cancel or turn off renewal.
• Through a payment account. If you paid via an online payment service, its settings will usually list automatic payments you've approved, and you can cancel from there.
• On a games console or smart TV. Check the account or subscription settings on the device, or the account linked to it.
• Bundled with another product. Trials that come with a new phone, a broadband deal or a gadget can be managed through that provider's account rather than the service itself.

Our step by step guide on how to cancel unwanted subscriptions goes through each of these in more detail, including what to do if a company makes it hard.

Make sure it actually stopped

Cancelling is only half the job. A few quick checks save a lot of hassle later:

• Keep the proof. Take a screenshot of the cancellation screen, or keep the confirmation email in a folder you can find. Note the date.
• Look for the confirmation. If no email or message arrives within a day or so, check your account page to see whether the renewal date has gone. If it's still there, the cancellation didn't go through.
• Check your statement after the end date. Glance at your bank or card statement a day or two after the trial would have charged.
• If you were charged anyway, contact the company first with your screenshot and the date you cancelled. If they won't help, your bank or card provider is the next step, and the Financial Conduct Authority (the FCA) explains your rights on recurring card payments on its website.

Mistakes busy adults make with free trials

• Using a card you rarely check. If the trial bills a card you only look at monthly, you won't spot a charge until weeks later. Note which card it's on in your reminder.
• Starting trials on the go. Signing up on a train or in a queue is how the end date gets skipped. If you can, wait until you can do the routine properly.
• Trusting the company's reminder. Some services send a reminder before a trial ends; plenty don't, and if they do it may land in a folder you never open. Your own reminder is the one that counts.
• Forgetting the household. If someone else at home signed up using a shared card or account, the trial is still your money. A quick "anyone started anything?" once a month catches these.

A simple trial log

If you start more than the odd trial, keep a short list in a notes app, a spreadsheet or a paper diary. For each one write:

• the service and what it's for
• the date and time it turns paid
• what it will cost, and how often
• where you'd cancel it
• whether you've cancelled, and the date you did

Five lines per trial, deleted once it's done. Once a month, check the list against your statement. Our guide on how to keep track of subscriptions shows how to fold the trials you decide to keep into a full subscriptions list.

Keeping trials on the radar with mylife/

If you'd rather not keep a separate list, mylife/ has a subscriptions ledger where a free trial can be added with its end date, so the nudge comes before the first payment, never during your quiet hours. It doesn't read your bank or email, so you add each trial yourself or tell Slash, your mate, in a sentence, such as "I've started a trial that ends on the 14th". A morning note flags what's coming up. mylife/'s own plans work the same way: every plan starts with a 3-day free trial, and cancelling stops the next renewal. You can try mylife/ free for 3 days or see how the app is laid out.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to cancel a free trial on the last day?

No, and it's usually better not to. Many services let you cancel early and keep using the trial until the end date, so cancelling on day one is the safest option where that applies. If a service ends access as soon as you cancel, aim for a couple of days before the end rather than the last day.

Will deleting the app cancel my free trial?

No. Deleting an app doesn't touch the subscription or the trial attached to it. You need to cancel in your phone's subscription settings, or wherever you signed up.

What happens if I forget to cancel a free trial?

The trial usually turns into a paid subscription and the first payment is taken. Contact the company as soon as you notice and ask whether they'll cancel and refund it, as some will if you haven't used the paid service. Cancel the subscription either way so it doesn't charge again.

Can I get a refund after a free trial charges me?

It depends on the company's terms and how you signed up. Ask the company first, and if you cancelled in time and were still charged, keep your proof of cancellation and speak to your bank or card provider. The FCA's website explains how recurring card payments can be stopped.

How many days before a free trial ends should I cancel?

Setting a reminder about three days before, with a second the day before, gives you a comfortable margin. That allows for trials that charge early on the final day and for busy weeks when the first reminder gets snoozed.