How to clean up all the useless app subscriptions on iOS
Apps are essential to getting the most out of our smartphones, but the subscriptions that some of those apps rope us into are far from necessary once they fall out of regular rotation.
Even the best of us probably have an app sub or two we've forgotten about after signing up once and never using the program again, which can be super annoying when seemingly phantom charges show up when it comes time to pay the bill.
iPhone upgrade season is here, and that gives everyone using iOS a good excuse to double-check just how many useless subscriptions we have on our dockets. Here's how to find all of the app subscriptions you currently have tied to your Apple ID — and how to cancel them when you decide you've had enough.
First, head to the Settings app on your phone's home screen.
Tap on the first category with your Apple ID name, then proceed to the "iTunes & App Store" section.
You'll see a field at the top of the screen with your Apple ID highlighted in blue. Tap that, then select "View Apple ID" in the pop-up menu.
You'll have to use Touch ID or enter your PIN to view your account info.
Once you've logged in, tap on the "Subscriptions" field.
There, you'll see information about all of the apps you've subscribed to in the App Store.
You can tap on each individual item to manage your subscription and find out when it will be renewed, or straight up cancel the service.
Here's a quick video walkthrough of the process in iOS 11:
If you're still having issues with subscriptions that don't don't show up on your Apple ID list, you might be getting charges from someone other than Apple. You can check out some next-level steps to handle those pesky subs here.
Checking your subscriptions should be just as important to you as taking out your trash IRL if you're an app power user, but everyone should clean up every once in a while. You don't want a messy room — and you definitely don't want a messy Apple ID account filled with useless subscriptions that waste your money.
Brett Williams is a Tech Reporter at Mashable. He writes about tech news, trends and other tangentially related topics with a particular interest in wearables and exercise tech. Prior to Mashable, he wrote for Inked Magazine and Thrillist. Brett's work has also appeared on Fusion and AskMen, to name a few. You can follow Brett on Twitter @bdwilliams910.
