To cancel an Audacity subscription, you first need to know that Audacity itself does not sell one. The desktop audio editor is free under the GNU General Public License, with no paid tier. A recurring charge with “Audacity” on it is coming from one of two places: a third-party mobile app that borrowed the name, or paid cloud storage through audio.com, a separate service affiliated with Audacity’s parent company. You cancel through whichever platform actually processed the payment, not through Audacity.1Audacity ®. Audacity – Frequently Asked Questions
Figure Out Who Is Actually Billing You
Open your bank or credit card statement and read the exact text next to the charge. That descriptor tells you where to go to cancel.
- Apple.com/bill or any Apple descriptor means the charge went through the App Store.
- GOOGLE*Play or a Google descriptor means the charge went through Google Play.
- PayPal or PAYPAL* means an automatic payment is running through your PayPal account.
- audio.com or a descriptor referencing Audacity cloud storage means you signed up for extra storage on audio.com.
If the descriptor is cryptic, search the email account tied to your phone’s app store for the original receipt. The confirmation email names the seller and the amount, which usually settles the question. No official Audacity app exists for iOS or Android, so if the receipt points to a mobile app, it was published by a third party.1Audacity ®. Audacity – Frequently Asked Questions
Cancel Through Apple
On an iPhone or iPad, open Settings, tap your name at the top, then tap Subscriptions. Every active and expired subscription tied to your Apple Account is listed there. Tap the app billing you, then tap Cancel Subscription.2Apple Support. If You Want to Cancel a Subscription From Apple
You can do the same thing on the web at account.apple.com by signing in and following the prompts to manage your subscriptions.2Apple Support. If You Want to Cancel a Subscription From Apple
Cancel Through Google Play
On an Android device, open Settings, tap Google, tap your name, and select Manage your Google Account. Tap Payments & subscriptions, then Manage subscriptions. Find the app and follow the cancellation steps.3Google Play Help. Cancel, Pause, or Change a Subscription on Google Play
You can also open the Google Play app directly, tap your profile icon, then tap Payments & subscriptions and Subscriptions. Same list, same result.
Cancel Through PayPal
If the charge is routing through PayPal, log in on the web, go to Settings, click Payments, and select Automatic Payments. In some accounts the same page is labeled Subscriptions and saved businesses. Click the merchant and cancel the automatic payment.4PayPal. What Is an Automatic Payment and How Do I Update or Cancel One
In the PayPal mobile app, tap the three-line menu, then tap Subscriptions or Linked Businesses. Tap the merchant, tap Manage, select Stop Paying with PayPal, and confirm with Unlink.4PayPal. What Is an Automatic Payment and How Do I Update or Cancel One
Cancel Audio.com Cloud Storage
If you added cloud storage to save your Audacity projects online, the charge is from audio.com. Those plans are billed annually rather than monthly, so you may see one larger charge instead of a small recurring one.5audio.com. Subscription Plans
Log in to your audio.com account and look for a billing or subscription management page to turn off future renewals. If there is no self-service option, the Audacity FAQ points users to support@audio.com for cancellation and refund requests.1Audacity ®. Audacity – Frequently Asked Questions
Deleting the App Does Not Cancel the Charge
This trips people up constantly. Apple and Google both process subscriptions at the account level, not the app level. You can wipe the app off your phone and the subscription will keep billing on schedule until you cancel it in your account settings. Both platforms warn you about this when you uninstall a paid app, but tapping past the warning does not cancel anything. Cancel first, then delete.
Request a Refund for Past Charges
Canceling stops future bills; it does not claw back the ones already posted. If a third-party app charged you while posing as Audacity, you have grounds to ask for your money back.
- Apple: go to reportaproblem.apple.com, sign in, and choose Request a refund next to the charge.6Apple Support. Maintaining a Safe App Store Experience
- Google Play: open the Google Play app or visit play.google.com, find the order in your history, and request a refund for that transaction.
- audio.com: email support@audio.com and ask for a refund of the cloud storage charges.1Audacity ®. Audacity – Frequently Asked Questions
If the app store denies the request and you believe the billing was deceptive, your card issuer can investigate it as a billing dispute. Call the number on the back of the card, explain that you were billed by a service misrepresenting itself, and send over any confirmation emails or screenshots you have.
Report a Fake Audacity App
Reporting the app helps get it pulled before someone else pays for it. Apple reviews reports submitted at reportaproblem.apple.com and removes apps found to be deceptive or malicious.6Apple Support. Maintaining a Safe App Store Experience On Google Play, open the app’s listing, tap the three-dot menu, and choose Flag as inappropriate.
If the app buried its subscription terms or made a free trial hard to cancel, you can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov.7Federal Trade Commission. Why Report Fraud?
If Charges Keep Appearing After You Cancel
Check the next billing cycle on your statement. You usually keep access until the end of the period you already paid for, but no new charges should post after that.
If a charge does post, go back into your subscription settings and confirm the status shows canceled or expired. Cancellations sometimes fail silently because of a dropped connection or a skipped confirmation step. If it still shows active, cancel it again.
If the status shows canceled and you were charged anyway, contact the app store’s support team. Apple and Google both keep timestamps of when subscriptions were canceled and can reverse charges that posted after that date. If support will not reverse the charge, dispute it with your card issuer. A screenshot or email showing the cancellation date makes that dispute move much faster.