How to track every subscription on your iPhone

To track every subscription on your iPhone, first find each recurring charge from three sources (your Apple Account subscriptions, your bank and card statements, and your email receipts). Then write down the price, billing cycle and next renewal date for each one in a single list. Convert everything to a monthly figure, and look at the list again before each renewal.

The short version

• Check three places for subscriptions: Settings on your iPhone, your bank and card statements, and your inbox.
• Record five things for each one: name, price, billing cycle, next renewal date and status.
• Convert weekly, quarterly and yearly prices to a monthly figure so you can compare them.
• Review the list before each renewal, because that is the last moment you can act on it.
• Cancelling happens with the company that bills you, or in your Apple Account settings, never in a tracking app.

How do I find every subscription I am paying for?

One list is never enough, because subscriptions are billed in different places. Work through all three sources once, and you will usually find at least one you forgot.

Apple Account subscriptions

Open Settings, tap your name, then tap Subscriptions. This lists everything billed through the App Store, with its renewal date and price. It also shows expired ones, which is useful for spotting something you cancelled and thought was gone.

Bank and card statements

Anything billed directly by a company (streaming, gym, software, news, a cloud storage plan) will not appear in your Apple Account. Scan the last three months of statements for charges that repeat at the same amount. Do the same for any card you rarely use, since that is where forgotten subscriptions tend to sit.

Email receipts and annual renewals

Search your inbox for words such as "receipt", "renewal", "your subscription" and "trial". Annual renewals are the easy ones to miss, because they charge once a year and never show up in a three month scan. A trial that quietly converts to a paid plan also shows up here first.

What should I write down for each subscription?

Keep the record short or you will stop maintaining it. For each subscription, note:

1. Name, as it appears on the statement.
2. Price and currency.
3. Billing cycle: weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly.
4. Next renewal date.
5. Status: active, in a free trial, paused or cancelled.

Keep cancelled ones on the list for a month or two. If a charge still appears after you cancelled, you will have the date to point to.

How do I turn everything into a monthly figure?

Divide a yearly price by 12 and a quarterly price by 3. A weekly price is multiplied by 52 and then divided by 12. Add the results together and you have one monthly total, and multiplying that by 12 gives a yearly estimate.

The yearly number is the one that changes behaviour. A small monthly charge looks harmless, but seeing the full twelve months in one figure is a better prompt to ask whether you still use it. Whether a given amount is worth it is your call, so use the figure to decide what to look at, not what you ought to spend.

When should I review my subscriptions?

Review a subscription a few days before it renews. A monthly look at the whole list is fine for a general tidy up, but the useful moment is just before a charge, when you can still choose to cancel, pause or keep it.

Ask three questions: did I use it in the last month, am I still in a trial, and is there a cheaper plan with the same features? If you decide to stop, cancel with the provider, or in Settings under your name and Subscriptions for anything billed by Apple. Then change its status on your list to cancelled.

How does this work in Planwell?

Planwell on the App Store has a Subscriptions tracker built around this method. Switch it on and the rest of Planwell's trackers stay out of the way.

The totals at the top

The Subscriptions screen opens with your monthly total in large type. Below it, one line shows how many are active, the next renewal date and about how much you spend in a year. Weekly, quarterly and yearly subscriptions are converted to a monthly figure for you, and active and trial subscriptions are both counted. You can choose which currency the totals are shown in from the menu at the top of the screen.

Renewing soon and statuses

A Renewing soon strip lists your next renewals, nearest first, with a countdown such as "In 3 days". Four filters sit underneath: Active, Trial, Paused and Cancelled, each with a count. You can also filter by category (Entertainment, Productivity, Health, Utilities, News or Other) and sort by renewal date, monthly cost or name.

A nudge before a renewal

When an active or trial subscription is due within three days, Home shows it as its nudge, for example "iCloud renews in 3 days". It carries two buttons. Keep it sets that subscription aside so Planwell does not ask again about the same charge. Review opens your Subscriptions list so you can edit it. Planwell shows one nudge at a time.

Adding a subscription

Tap the plus button and fill in the name, cost, currency, billing cycle, next renewal date, category and status. Or use the bar at the bottom of the screen, which says "Add a subscription, or paste a receipt email...". Type something like "Netflix 11.99 a month" or paste the text of a receipt, and Planwell's assistant fills in the entry. It can be wrong, so check the price and renewal date before you rely on them.

What Planwell does not do

Planwell does not cancel anything for you, and it does not read your bank. It keeps the record and reminds you. To stop a subscription, cancel it with the provider or in your Apple Account settings, then mark it Cancelled in Planwell.

For more on logging by voice, see voice logging: how to track your day without typing. If subscriptions are one of several things you are tracking, one app instead of ten explains how the trackers fit together.

Planwell needs iOS 18 or later and costs US$3.99 a month or US$39.99 a year after a 7 day free trial. The local price is shown in the app. Download Planwell for iPhone and add your first subscription in a minute.

Frequently asked questions

How do I see all my subscriptions on my iPhone?

Open Settings, tap your name and tap Subscriptions. That shows everything billed through your Apple Account. Subscriptions billed directly by a company will not be there, so check your bank statements and email receipts too.

How do I find subscriptions I forgot about?

Search your email for "receipt", "renewal" and "trial", and scan three months of bank and card statements for repeating amounts. Check yearly renewals separately, since they only charge once a year.

How do I cancel a subscription I do not use?

Cancel with the company that bills you. For anything billed through Apple, go to Settings, tap your name, tap Subscriptions, choose the subscription and cancel it there. A tracking app only holds the record.

Does Planwell track subscriptions automatically?

No. You add each one by typing it, speaking it or pasting a receipt, and Planwell does the arithmetic. It does not connect to your bank or cancel anything for you.