SubsHow to find all your subscriptions on a bank or card statement
Open the last two or three months of your card statement and look for the same merchant charging a similar amount at about the same time each month. Pay attention to umbrella descriptors like APPLE.COM/BILL, GOOGLE, PAYPAL and AMZN, which can hide several subscriptions, and to installment plans marked like “3/12”. Subs can do this for you: add a screenshot or PDF of the statement and it finds the recurring charges on your iPhone.
Why subscriptions are easy to miss
Subscriptions are small, they renew quietly, and many show up under a company name you don't recognise or under a payment platform instead of the service itself. Annual plans are the easiest to forget because they only appear once a year.
What to look for
- Repeating merchants. The same name on the same day (give or take a few days) every month.
- Round and familiar amounts. Prices like 9.99, 14.99 or 19.99 are typical of subscriptions.
- Small “test” charges right after signing up for a free trial, which often turn into a monthly charge later.
- Installments. Buy-now-pay-later plans and card installments often show a counter like 3/12 or “installment 3 of 12”.
- Monthly bills. Phone, internet, utilities and insurance recur too, and are worth tracking alongside subscriptions.
- Yearly charges. Check a full 12 months, or search for the names of services you use once a year.
Common descriptors and what they mean
| On your statement | What it usually is |
|---|---|
| APPLE.COM/BILL | Anything billed by Apple: App Store subscriptions, iCloud+, Apple Music. See the list in Settings › [your name] › Subscriptions. |
| GOOGLE * | Google Play, YouTube Premium or Google One |
| PAYPAL * | A service paid through PayPal; the name after the asterisk is the merchant |
| AMZN / Amazon Digital | Prime membership, Prime Video channels, Kindle Unlimited or Audible |
| AFFIRM / KLARNA / AFTERPAY | A buy-now-pay-later installment plan |
A single APPLE.COM/BILL line can cover several subscriptions. Your Apple purchase history at reportaproblem.apple.com shows what each charge was for.
The faster way: import the statement
Going through a statement by hand takes a while. In Subs, tap +, then Import from a screenshot or statement, and choose a screenshot of your banking app or a PDF statement. Subs reads it on your iPhone, groups what it finds into subscriptions, installments and bills, skips one-off purchases and things you already track, and lets you untick anything before adding. The file is never uploaded, and Subs never asks for your bank login.
Find subscriptions on your statement
- Get two or three months of statements. Open your banking app or download PDF statements for the last two or three months.
- Mark repeating merchants. Look for the same merchant charging a similar amount around the same date each month.
- Decode umbrella charges. For APPLE.COM/BILL, GOOGLE, PAYPAL and AMZN lines, check the platform's own purchase history to see which service it was.
- Note installments and bills. Write down installment plans with how many payments are left, and recurring bills like phone and internet.
- Put them in one list. Add everything to a tracker such as Subs so you get reminded before each charge.
Frequently asked questions
What does APPLE.COM/BILL mean on my statement?
It's a charge from Apple, for App Store purchases, in-app subscriptions or Apple services. To see which subscription it was, check Settings › [your name] › Subscriptions or your purchase history at reportaproblem.apple.com.
Is it safe to connect a subscription app to my bank?
Some apps ask for bank access to find subscriptions. Subs doesn't: it reads a screenshot or PDF you choose, on your iPhone, and never asks for your bank login.
How far back should I check?
Two or three months catch monthly subscriptions. To find yearly plans, look through the last 12 months.