Free trial reminder: how to never get charged after a trial
Write down the exact charge date at signup — the date, not "in 30 days" — and set a reminder for two days before it. Two days is the smallest gap that clears Apple's 24-hour cancellation rule and Google Play's authorization hold.
Why "in 30 days" is the part that fails
Almost nobody forgets that they started a trial. What they forget is when it converts, because at signup the service tells you a duration and your brain stores a vague one. Thirty days from a Tuesday in August is a date in September you have never once thought about. Write the date down at signup and the whole problem collapses into a calendar entry.
The second failure is subtler: people set the reminder for the charge date itself. By then the money has usually already moved, or the cancellation window has already closed.
How to never get charged after a free trial
- At signup, write down the exact charge date — not the length. Most services show it on the confirmation screen or in the welcome email. If yours doesn't, count the days on a calendar; don't count months (see the box below).
- Note who is billing you. Apple, Google Play, PayPal, or the service itself. This decides where you cancel and which deadline applies — and it's the single most common reason a cancellation "didn't work". Whoever takes the money owns the cancellation.
- Look up the deadline that applies to you. The table below has the three cases that cover almost everything.
- Set the reminder for two days before the charge date. Not the morning of. Two days gives you a working day of slack if the cancel flow needs a browser you don't have open, a password you've forgotten, or a support ticket.
- Decide now what would make you keep it. One sentence, written next to the reminder: "keep if I've used it more than twice." Deciding in advance turns a 20-minute deliberation into a 20-second one.
- When the reminder fires, act the same day. Cancel, or consciously keep it and move the reminder to two days before the next renewal.
- Confirm, then keep the receipt. Look for the confirmation screen and the confirmation email. A cancellation you didn't see confirmed is a cancellation that may not have happened — that's the most common cause of "I canceled and was still charged".
Date math, honestly. A "30 days free" trial that starts on 12 August ends on 11 September, not 12 September. A "one month free" that starts on 31 January lands on 28 February in most billing systems, because month arithmetic clamps to the end of a shorter month. When the service shows you a date, trust the service's date over your own arithmetic — and write down that one, exactly.
Each store's cancel deadline
| Billed by | The rule the official help page states | What that means for your reminder |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | If you signed up for a free or discounted trial and don't want to renew it, cancel it at least 24 hours before the trial ends. verified Aug 12, 2026 — Apple Support | Your reminder has to give you a full day of room. Two days before is the safe setting. |
| Google Play | At the end of the trial the first billing period begins and you're charged automatically; to avoid charges, cancel before the trial period expires. An authorization hold may be placed on your payment method up to 48 hours before the next renewal (up to 5 days in India and Brazil). verified Aug 12, 2026 — Google Play Help | No 24-hour rule, but the hold appears up to two days out. Canceling on the last evening can still leave a pending amount on your card. |
| The service directly | Varies by service and by contract — there is no shared rule. Gyms, insurers and anything processed by a human commonly need days of notice, and some require it in writing. | Check the terms when you sign up, not when you want out, and set the reminder to whatever notice period they state plus two days. |
Two days before, every time
Two days is not superstition. It's the smallest gap that survives all three real-world failures: Apple's 24-hour rule, Google's authorization hold appearing up to 48 hours ahead of the renewal, and the ordinary fact that the evening you meant to do it is the evening something else happened. If a service needs written notice, use its notice period plus two days instead.
Where the reminder should live
A calendar entry works, as long as you'll actually see it. What a calendar won't do is hold the price, the billing cycle and which card the charge hits, so a year later you're re-deriving all of it from scratch.
That's what Subby's reminders are for, and they're on the free tier. You add the trial yourself with its first charge date, choose a lead time — same-day, a few days ahead, or a custom number of days if you want a full week — and the notification tells you what's about to happen and for how much, not just that "something" is due. If a payment date passes and you haven't marked it paid, the reminder keeps coming back for another seven days, which is the difference between noticing a charge and noticing it in time to ask for a refund.
No bank connection, no account, nothing to link. You type the date in once, at the moment you still know it — the moment you sign up.
Signed up for a trial today?
Put its charge date into Subby now, while you still know it, and pick how many days' warning you want.
Free · No account · No bank login