A simple life hack for avoiding unwanted subscription fees!

I spent the most of 2020 using two apps that I paid an annual subscription for…by mistake! I hope you are not familiar with this story…but I suspect many of you are…it needs a cool name like…’the annual subscription scam’ or something. Basically, it starts out like this, you see an app that piques your curiosity and you think ‘sure, I try for a few days’. You head over to the app store and download the app with a bit of excitement and expectation. A few moments later, as you are finishing up the installation, you get it…the subscription offer. I have to admit, I get a small bit of trepidation…a slight feeling of anxiety as I read through the subscription offer. Mainly because, I have to be alert and ‘on the look out’ for the dreaded and somewhat shady subscription prompt that reads…you are granted a 7-day trial, after which, by default, you will be subscribed to ‘our annual subscription…which is, you know, the highest rate we could ethically charge…and not feel overly greedy and shameless…plus we know you really know you want to opt/default into our most expensive option.” Ok, so maybe it doesn’t exactly say that but that’s a pretty close paraphrasing of the typical app subscription message.

Well, if you want the details, sure, here they are…by default you will be charged the yearly subscription fee. Never-mind that the app has a monthly fee…