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When Apple Music’s free trial expires, customers must pay a monthly subscription fee. This article covers how to cancel your Apple Music subscription.
How to Cancel Apple Music
Apple Music is a little sneaky with its user interface. Canceling isn’t as obvious as one would think. Users are conditioned to look for an account screen. This seems to be a universally accepted convention for managing subscriptions. Apple buries this setting under “View Apple ID”, perhaps in an effort to obfuscate the process. I wasn’t aware you could cancel the subscription directly from the Music app. There is another way to cancel, using iTunes, which works for any subscription, be it Apple Music, HBO NOW, or Showtime.
First, launch Apple Music and then tap on the user icon on the top left of the screen. The Account screen will appear. Tap View Apple ID.
Authenticate with the iTunes Store using your password.
The Account Settings screen will appear. Tap on the Manage button under Subscriptions.
A list of iTunes subscriptions will appear. Tap on Your Membership.
You will see a screen with Apple Music membership details. Turn off the Automatic Renewal switch.
Confirm turning off Automatic Renewal.
The Apple Music Membership screen will reappear, showing that your Apple Music subscription has been canceled. It also shows the date when your free trial will expire. Your free trial expires at 12:00 AM on the specified date.
After your trial expires, you can still use the Music app. After all, it can still play your iTunes music library. You will be persistently reminded to subscribe to Apple Music. If you attempt to play Apple Music tracks, you will see an alert.
You can also confirm that Apple Music has been canceled by tapping on the user icon on the top left and viewing the Account screen. You should see the text “Join Apple Music” if your membership has been canceled and has expired.
If Music is cluttered with Apple Music albums or songs you added to My Music, it may be a good idea to remove these. You may also want to remove any downloaded Apple Music songs or albums, as these can no longer be played. They only take up space.
You can hide Apple Music by going to Settings > Music and then turning off Show Apple Music. This will simply hide Apple Music from the Music app. You will only see iTunes purchases and radio options.
If you downloaded Apple Music tracks on to your device, you can no longer play these songs if you cancel Apple Music. You can delete these albums by going to Settings > Music and turning off iCloud Music Library. You will see a prompt informing you that this will remove Apple Music songs from your device. Confirm to remove Apple Music tracks.
If you want to delete all music from your device, including iTunes purchases (they can be re-downloaded later), go to Settings > General > Usage > Manage Storage > Music. Tap the Edit button on the top right. You can delete All Songs or delete individual artists or albums.
Forgot to Cancel Apple Music?
Apple Music subscribers often forget to turn off automatic renewals or just aren’t aware of the settings. Some may not have realized that Apple will start charging you when the trial expires. After all, you never entered your credit card information, as the purchase is made through iTunes. Apple will usually send an email, but not everyone will get it.
If you have been charged for an unwanted Apple Music subscription, you may be able to get a refund. First, go to the Apple Support site and select iTunes.
Next, click or tap on Contact Apple Support.
A page with iTunes functional categories will appear. Select “iTunes Store”.
A list of options will appear. Select “iTunes Store account billing”.
You will see a page with communication options for Apple support. Choose the best option to communicate with Apple.
When you correspond or talk with a representative, make sure to inform them that you were unaware that you would be charged. Apple has issued some credits for the first month billing of Apple Music. The longer you wait, the less likely a credit becomes.
You can also file a claim with your credit card company, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Corporations will sometimes fight back if you fight a credit card charge. They could disable your Apple ID, which would exile you from the Apple ecosystem. I would only recommend doing this if you have nothing to lose — you are leaving Apple for good.
Why I Cancelled Apple Music
When Apple Music was announced, I was ecstatic. As the rumors started to surface, I began using Spotify’s free service. I liked it and was surprised that it offered so much music. I have very unique tastes in music. I’m into art rock, extreme technical metal, avant-garde jazz, fusion, thrash, classical, post-punk and progressive rock. Some of this music is difficult to find on iTunes and CD. I thought music subscription services only offered Top 40 pop music. I was skeptical, but amazed that Spotify has so much to offer. I looked at Apple Music as something that would be even better than Spotify. (continue…)