Apple does a lot right, but some of its more nuanced processes, like managing your iTunes subscriptions, can be frustrating to deal with if you don’t know the proper steps. With major streaming services like HBONow/HBOGo and Apple’s own upcoming service only allowing you to manage your subscription directly from your iOS device, it’s important to know how these subscriptions are categorized just in case you want to renew or cancel before your next billing date comes up.
Your Subscription Page
To get to the page that manages all your subscriptions, start by opening up your iOS home screen and tap on the “Settings” app.
Next, tap on the large option at the top of the “Settings” app labeled with your iCloud account name.
Tap this and you’ll be taken to the following screen where you’ll need to tap on the “iTunes and App Store” option.
From here you’ll be greeted by two screens. The first will be the box asking you to “View Apple ID,” while the next will be for you to type in the verification method you’ve previously set up to get into the account details.
This can be anything from the alphanumeric password tied to your iTunes account to FaceID if you’re accessing your subscriptions from an iPhone X and above.
On the next screen scroll down until you see the option for “Subscriptions” and tap it.
Manage Your Subscriptions
From here you should see a complete list of all the subscriptions tied to your iTunes account, both current and expired.
Once you’ve clicked into the subscription of your choosing, you may be presented with multiple options depending on what that particular service provider has on offer. For example, in the case of HBONow, HBO only offers a single monthly subscription plan. This means that when you navigate to the HBONow settings page, your only option for customizing your subscription will be to cancel it altogether. You can achieve this by simply tapping the “Cancel Subscription” button, as shown below.
In the case of other services like Scribd, however, which offers multiple plans, including both a monthly and annual option, you’ll have multiple choices. For instance, if you only have a monthly subscription, you can use this screen to upgrade your plan to the full annual subscription.
Likewise, you can also downgrade your annual subscription to a monthly or cancel it completely if you don’t want it to renew on the date it says it will expire (as noted by the number shown underneath the subscription term at the top of your screen).
Wrapping Up
Despite all the aspects of the iOS experience that are much easier to deal with than what you might find on Android, one area that continues to be frustrating, even with the release of iOS 12, is managing your iTunes subscriptions. Luckily, with this guide you can be sure that none of your subscriptions will accidentally auto-renew without your permission, and you can always prevent free trials from rolling over into paid monthly plans as long as you cancel them in time!
A tech writer with seven years of experience in the industry, Chris Stobing has come to MakeTechEasier to do one thing and one thing only: make tech easier for the people who need it!
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