How to cancel YouTube Premium

Cancel YouTube Premium at youtube.com/paid_memberships under Manage membership, then Deactivate and Yes, cancel. If the membership says Billed by Apple, the cancel button is in your iPhone's Settings instead. Either way the benefits run to the end of the billing period, and no new charge follows.

By the Subby team·Last updated October 17, 2026

First, check who bills you

YouTube Premium reaches you through one of three billers, and only the one taking the money can stop it. Open youtube.com/paid_memberships on a computer and expand your membership. If it says Billed by Apple, you signed up in the iPhone or iPad app, and YouTube's help is direct about what that means: "You'll need to manage your membership through Apple." Since 2022, new members who signed up on Android pay through Google Play.

How to cancel YouTube Premium on a computer

1. Go to youtube.com/paid_memberships.
2. Click Manage membership.
3. Click Deactivate.
4. Click Continue to cancel.
5. Pick a reason for cancelling and click Next.
6. Click Yes, cancel.

After step 3 YouTube offers Pause instead. Pausing is a real option, covered below, but it isn't a cancellation. If you want out, carry on to the last screen.

How to cancel YouTube Premium on Android

1. In the YouTube app, tap your profile picture, then Paid memberships.
2. Tap the membership you want to cancel.
3. Tap Continue to cancel.
4. Pick a reason and tap Next.
5. Tap Yes, cancel.

When Google Play bills the membership, the Play Store's subscription list works too, the same place you cancel subscriptions on Google Play for every other app. Uninstalling YouTube does neither. Google's help says it plainly: "When you uninstall the app, your subscription won't cancel."

How to cancel YouTube Premium on iPhone or iPad

If Apple bills you, cancel in Settings, where you cancel subscriptions on iPhone for everything else:

1. Open Settings and tap your name.
2. Tap Subscriptions.
3. Tap YouTube Premium.
4. Tap Cancel Subscription. You may need to scroll to find it.

No Cancel button, or an expiry date in red? It is already cancelled. The trap also runs the other way. When Google bills a membership you look at on an iPhone, YouTube's help says iPhone users "must cancel using a non-iOS device", such as a computer.

When the charges stop, and what you lose

YouTube's wording: "Your YouTube paid membership benefits will continue until the end of the billing period." After that no new charge lands. There is no refund for the gap either, because "You won't be refunded for the period between when you cancel and when your membership ends." So cancelling the day after a renewal costs the same as cancelling the day before the next one, and you keep every day you paid for.

Downloads go with the membership: "If your YouTube Premium membership ends, you will no longer have access to your downloaded videos." On a family plan, the manager's cancellation ends Premium for everyone in the family group, though each member keeps their Google Account.

A free trial works on the same clock. Cancel during the trial and you keep the benefits to its last day, and it never turns into a paid month.

Pause instead of cancelling

If you only want a break, a monthly membership can pause for one to six months from the same screen. Click Deactivate, then Pause instead, set the length with the slider and click Pause membership. Nobody charges you while it is paused, and the benefits stop until it resumes. Two limits apply. "Annual plans cannot be paused", and pausing isn't offered when Apple bills you.

The mistake that keeps you paying

Cancelling in the wrong place. A membership started in the iPhone app is Apple's to cancel, and deleting the app stops nothing anywhere. Check the Billed by line before you look for any button, and the rest takes two minutes. If you keep Premium, keep its renewal date somewhere you will see it, and get a reminder before the next charge rather than a surprise after it.