How to find ‘vampire’ Android and iPhone bills emptying your bank without you realising
Date: 2024-10-22KILLER bills may be silently emptying your bank account without you even realising it.
Thankfully it’s extremely easy to check if you’ve got some of these forgotten “vampire” bills on an iPhone or Android.
Both types of phones let you sign up to subscriptions on apps.
Maybe you didn’t mean to sign up, or only meant to grab a free trial, or registered so long ago that you’d forgotten about it.
Whatever the case, it’s easy for these subscriptions to stack up – and add up together over time.
But there’s a place on both iPhone and Android to track them down, pause them, or stop them entirely if you prefer.
HOW TO FIND SUBSCRIPTIONS ON IPHONE
If you’ve got an iPhone, head into the Settings app.
Then tap on [Your Name] at the top of the page, and hit Subscriptions.
This page should show you a list of your subscriptions, split into Active and Inactive piles.
With the Sort button in the top right, you can change them in order of app name, price, or renewal date.
Each subscription will show the app name, what you’re paying for, the price, and the renewal date.
If you tap on a subscription, you’ll be able to cancel it (or end a free trial if that’s what you’re using instead).
It should also flag how long you’ll still be able to access your subscription for.
On some subscriptions, you may see an option for See All Plans.
This will give you the option to switch to another plan, which is a great way to save money without cancelling a subscription altogether.
If you tap on an Inactive subscription, you should see the date that your membership ended – as well as an option to renew it.
On the main Subscriptions page, there will also be an option to turn on Renewal Receipts.
Apple explains: “A receipt will be sent to you each time one of your subscriptions renews.
“Receipts are always available in Apple Account settings > Purchase History.”
Make sure that you have this setting switched on so that you don’t miss any bills.
DO A SUBSCRIPTION AUDIT – AND DO IT TODAY!
Here’s advice from The Sun’s tech expert Sean Keach…
We truly live in an age of subscriptions.
Everything is a monthly fee or yearly pay-out – and the weight of all of those payment plans can quickly add up.
Signing up to an app here or a service there doesn’t seem like a big deal at the time.
But you might find yourself forking out far more than you imagined you ever would.
So it’s worth doing an audit of your subscriptions every six months or so.
See if there’s anything worth cancelling: ask yourself if you’re really getting good value each month.
Also, consider trying savvy tricks to saving on subscriptions.
With TV for instance, try just subscribing to Netflix for a month and cancelling everything else.
Then kill it and switch to Disney+ for a month, then end that and move on to Amazon Video for the next month.
Do this with three of four TV apps and then start over again.
You’ll find that you’re still able to watch all of the latest and greatest shows across all of the apps – but you’re not paying for each one constantly.
HOW TO FIND SUBSCRIPTIONS ON ANDROID
Finding your subscriptions on an Android phone is a very similar process.
You’ll want to go into your device’s Settings app and then tap on Google.
Now choose [Your Name] and then go to Manage Your Google Account.
Then tap on the Payments & Subscriptions option at the top of the page.
Next you’ll want to tap on either Manage Purchases, Manage Subscriptions, or Manage Reservations.
You can then select individual items to renew or cancel subscriptions.
It’s also possible to edit your subscriptions by going into the Google Play Store app.
Just go to the app’s subscriptions tab, tap on an entry, and choose Cancel Subscription.
Google explains: “When you cancel a subscription you’ll still be able to use your subscription for the time you’ve already paid.
“For example, if you buy a one-year subscription on January 1 for $10 and decide to cancel your subscription on July 1, you’ll have access to the subscription until December 31.
“You won’t be charged another yearly subscription of $10 the following January 1.”
Some apps will let you pause a subscription (so that you don’t lose a specific pricing offer).
And you can restart these paused subscriptions inside the Google Play Store app too.
