DIGITAL LIFE

How to Track and Manage Your Paid Subscriptions
Cord cutting has long been touted as the answer to costly monthly cable bills. Do not pay for channels you never watch; just stream your favorite shows online.
That was the dream, but TV and cable execs have caught on. If you want all that prestige TV has to offer-Stranger Things on Netflix, The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Video, Game of Thrones on HBO Now, and countless other UK, Danish, Australian, and Korean dramas you will never know what you need in your life-things will get expensive pretty fast.
And this is just the beginning. Disney is pulling its content from Netflix for its own Disney +, NBC might give Netflix cardiac arrest by moving The Office to its own service, and CBS has all the procedurals you handle on CBS All Access.
Are you paying attention to your monthly bill? Netflix just increased its prices and Hulu did the same for its live TV option. But unless you meticulously examine your credit card statement each month, a small bump in price on your favorite video-streaming service-or a free trial automatically converting into a paid subscription-is easy to miss.
Mastercard recently announced a new policy requiring merchants to get a cardholder's approval at the end of a trial before they start billing. Companies should send the cardholder an email or text that includes the transaction amount, payment date, and instructions on how to cancel.
But that's just free trials. Apps like Truebill, Trim, SubscriptMe, Bobby, and Trackmysubs will notify you when to service hikes prices, and help you cancel any services you're not using. Many also provide financial aid services. Let's see what each one has to offer. -Truebill
Once you set up Truebill on your phone (iOS, Android) and link your bank account, the app will automatically fill in your financial data. Monitor spending from the custom dashboard, keep track of your spending and set up a budget. You can also set up savings accounts, add alerts and notifications, and cancel unwanted subscriptions. Truebill will also help you negotiate your bills and receive better rates.
Each resource on your account will be grouped together in the app, allowing you to monitor them in one place. Inspect a service to see how much you have spent on it or change how the app keeps track of it. If you want to cancel the service, Truebill provides you with the contact information you need.
A Premium version starts at $ 3 per month, and provides automated cancellations, custom categories, smart savings features, automatic refunds, live chat support, and the ability to sync your account.
-Trim
Trim does a little bit of everything. Set up an account with an email account, link your bank, and answer some questions about your finances, and Trim will help you manage charges, eliminate debt, negotiate your bills, and more. Set up a savings fund to move money into regularly, spending budget, and reminders and notifications. You can even compare your spending habits to other users to get a sense of how well you're doing.
Most importantly to our interests here, Trim will also pull out subscriptions. If there's something you do not recognize, Trim can investigate what the charge is and how it got there.
Bill negotiation, Trim Concierge, and Trim Simple Savings are paid services; pricing varies-like 33 percent of your total yearly savings for bill negotiation.
Truebill and Trim use the Plaid API to avoid storing your personal banking information. They also use bank-level 256-bit SSL encryption and two-factor authentication to make your account harder to hack. -SubscriptMe
SubscriptMe is an iOS app that scans your email for transaction receipts using a service called Slice. It provides a visual overview of your subscriptions and breaks things down into different categories. Users can also set up reminders regarding upcoming renewals. If SubscriptMe misses anything, you can add it in manually.
-Subby
On Android, Subby requires you to enter recurring paid subscriptions manually, so there's no reason to share any personal information with the company. Add types of payment, create categories, and set reminders. Once the app notifies you of an impending charge, you can then note that you have paid the bill.
A $ 2.99 Pro version will remove ads, allow data to be backed up to Google Drive, offer access to the Subby widget, and give you the ability to request icons for apps that do not have them.
-Manage Subscriptions on iOS or Android
Not sure what you're actually subscribed to? Here's how to see if you have set up recurring charges on your mobile phone.
On iPhone, navigate to Settings> [your name]> iTunes & App Store.
Tap your Apple ID at the top of the screen, then tap View Apple ID and scroll down to Subscriptions. (If you do not have any subscriptions, this will not appear.) Here's a closer look at how to unsubscribe from an app on iOS or iTunes.
On Android, open the Play Store app. Tap the hamburger menu () and tap Subscriptions to view the list of recurring purchases. Here, you can edit payment options or cancel the subscription completely. Jason Cohen