How to audit your subscriptions: find every recurring charge

Start with the statement

Pull a full year of statements — the actual statement PDFs, not just the app view. Scan for anything that repeats: the same merchant and amount every 30 days, or one charge on the same date each year. Recurring is the tell; the amount and merchant can both drift, so match on pattern rather than exact dollars.

App store lines are the first place to linger. APPLE.COM/BILL and GOOGLE* lines that appear monthly are subscriptions by definition, and one line can bundle several of them. The purchase history from the app store guide breaks each one out.

Date-matching helps with the bundles: if a line lands on the 12th every month, whatever renewed on the 12th is in it. Write the pattern down as you go — the point of the pass is a list you can act on, not a memory exercise.

Then the app stores

Both app stores keep a current list of every active subscription: iPhone and iPad list them under Settings → Subscriptions, and Android lists them on the Play Store’s Subscriptions page. Amazon, Microsoft, and streaming services keep their own account pages with the same list.

The app store list is the authoritative version of what is billed through the store — it shows the price, the renewal date, and the plan. The catch: subscriptions bought on the merchant’s own website do not appear there, which is why the statement pass and the app store pass have to happen together.

Then the annuals and the trials

Annual subscriptions are the ones that escape audits — one charge a year hides in a sea of monthly lines. The statement pass catches them if you look for yearly patterns on dates like your signup anniversary.

Old trials round out the list. A trial you started and forgot converts on its own, so every card on file at a service you half-remember is a candidate. The trial conversion guide covers what to expect when they convert.

Free trial signups live in your inbox — search it for the words “welcome” and “your trial” and every result is a potential renewal you never tracked. Work through that list the same way as the statement lines: mark the ones still billing, cancel the rest. Email search is the fastest way to find subscriptions attached to an address you rarely check.

The audit routine

1. Download a year of statements Monthly patterns and yearly dates only show up with the full cycle in front of you.
2. Mark every recurring line Merchant, amount, cadence. Group the APPLE.COM/BILL and GOOGLE* lines — each may be several subscriptions.
3. Cross-check the app store lists Settings → Subscriptions on iPhone, Play Store subscriptions on Android. Everything there bills through the store.
4. Cancel or keep, in writing Cancel what you do not use. For what stays, track it — the subscription tracker tool does the monthly math for you.
5. Repeat twice a year Prices change and trials convert. A six-month audit keeps the list honest.