Step 1 — Find out where you subscribed
Spotify Premium can be billed three different ways, and the cancellation path is completely different for each. Getting this wrong is the number-one reason people stay charged after "cancelling."
Log in at spotify.com/account and scroll to the Your Plan section. It will display one of these:
- No billing-source note — you pay Spotify directly by card or PayPal. Cancel on Spotify's website.
- "Payment handled by Apple" — you subscribed via the iOS App Store. You must cancel through Apple; Spotify's website has no cancel button for you.
- "Payment handled by Google" — you subscribed via Google Play. Cancel through the Google Play Store.
If you're not sure, check your bank or credit-card statement. A charge reading SPOTIFY or Spotify AB = direct billing. A charge reading APPLE.COM/BILL = Apple. GOOGLE * Spotify = Google Play.
Step 2 — Cancel direct Spotify billing
If Spotify bills you directly (the most common scenario on desktop subscribers):
- Go to spotify.com/account and sign in.
- Scroll down to Your Plan.
- Click Change Plan.
- Scroll all the way down to the Spotify Free tier.
- Click Cancel Premium beneath the Free tier description.
- Confirm when prompted.
You'll receive a confirmation email. Your Premium plan stays active until your next billing date, then your account automatically converts to Spotify Free. There is no cancellation fee and no mid-period refund — you simply stop being charged after the current period.
Step 3 — Cancel if billed through Apple (iPhone / iPad)
This is the scenario that catches the most people. If you originally downloaded Spotify and tapped "Get Premium" inside the iOS app, Apple is billing you. You cannot cancel through Spotify's website — it will show no cancel option.
On iPhone or iPad:
- Open Settings → tap your name at the top.
- Tap Subscriptions.
- Find Spotify in the active subscriptions list and tap it.
- Tap Cancel Subscription → confirm.
On a Mac:
- Open the App Store and click your account name (bottom left sidebar).
- Click View Information at the top of the account page.
- Scroll to Subscriptions and click Manage.
- Find Spotify and click Edit → Cancel Subscription.
Your Spotify Premium access continues until the current App Store billing period ends, then the account switches to Free.
Step 4 — Cancel if billed through Google Play
- Open the Google Play Store app on Android.
- Tap your profile icon (top right).
- Go to Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions.
- Tap Spotify → Cancel subscription.
- Follow the prompts and confirm.
As with Apple billing, Premium stays active until the period ends and then reverts to Free.
Step 5 — Verify your cancellation
Go back to spotify.com/account after cancelling. Under Your Plan you should see a message like:
"Your Premium plan will be cancelled on [date]."
You'll also receive a confirmation email. If you don't see either of these, the cancellation didn't go through — return to the billing source (Apple, Google, or Spotify directly) and try again.
What you keep on Spotify Free
After Premium lapses, your account stays open with all your:
- Playlists and liked songs
- Followed artists and podcasts
- Download history (but files become unplayable without Premium)
- Account login and settings
What you lose: ad-free listening, offline downloads, and unlimited skips on mobile. Podcasts and audiobooks purchased separately are unaffected.
The "still charged after cancelling" trap
This is almost always an Apple or Google billing mismatch. If you cancelled on Spotify's website but were originally billed through the App Store, the Apple subscription ran independently the whole time. The fix:
- Go to iOS Settings → [your name] → Subscriptions and confirm Spotify shows as Inactive.
- If it still shows Active, cancel it there now.
- For past charges from Apple after your intended cancel date, contact Apple Support to request a refund — Apple handles billing disputes for App Store subscriptions, not Spotify.
For the general bank-side escalation path (if neither Spotify nor Apple will help), see how to cancel any subscription. You may also want to check whether Netflix or Amazon Prime have the same Apple-billing issue if you're auditing your subscriptions at once. Browse all cancellation guides for more services.