How To Cancel YouTube Premium In 2026: Apple, Family And Pause Traps
Lily Roberts
Senior Marketing Strategist
04.10.2026
Short answer: go to youtube.com/paid memberships, click Manage membership, then Deactivate, then Continue to cancel, pick a reason and click Yes, cancel. In the Android app, tap your profile picture, then Paid memberships, and follow the same prompts. Do it before your next billing date to avoid the next charge. If you joined in the YouTube iPhone app, Apple bills you, so cancel in iPhone Settings under Subscriptions instead.
Cancelling YouTube Premium takes about a minute once you are in the right place. The trouble is that the right place depends on how you signed up. A membership started in the iPhone app lives in your Apple account, a membership that came with a Verizon plan lives in My Verizon, and a family member cannot cancel the family plan at all. Add the fact that YouTube TV is a completely different subscription with a similar name, and it is easy to cancel the wrong thing or to look for a button that is not there.
This guide covers every route, the 2026 price changes that pushed many people to cancel in the first place, the pause option, what happens to your downloads, and when YouTube actually gives money back.
First, Check Who Is Billing You
Look at the YouTube charge on your bank or card statement before you do anything else. The name on the charge tells you where the cancel button is.
What your statement says
Who bills you
Where to cancel
GOOGLE *YouTube Premium or similar
YouTube (Google) directly
youtube.com/paid_memberships, or Paid memberships in the YouTube app
APPLE.COM/BILL
Apple App Store
iPhone Settings, then your name, then Subscriptions
A perk or add-on line on your Verizon bill
Verizon
My Verizon, under your perks
Nothing, but you have Premium
A family plan manager, or a phone or carrier promotion
Ask the family manager, or check the offer that came with your device or plan
YouTube raised US prices across every Premium tier in 2026. New subscribers paid the higher rates from 10 April 2026, and existing members moved to them from their June billing cycle, after an email notice. These are the US prices when you subscribe directly with YouTube:
Plan
US price (direct)
Before the 2026 increase
What it includes
Premium Individual
$15.99 a month
$13.99
Ad-free YouTube, downloads, background play, YouTube Music Premium
Premium Individual, annual
$159.99 a year
$139.99
Same as monthly, paid upfront
Premium Family
$26.99 a month
$22.99
Premium for the manager plus up to 5 people in the same household
Premium Student
$8.99 a month
$7.99
Full Premium for verified students
Premium Lite
$8.99 a month
$7.99
Most videos ad-free; no YouTube Music, ads remain on music content
YouTube Music Premium
$11.99 a month
$10.99
Ad-free music and background play in YouTube Music only
Prices differ by country and by billing route, so the amount on your own Paid memberships page, or in your Apple subscriptions list, is the one that counts. If the jump in price is the reason you are leaving, Premium Lite is worth a look before you cancel completely. Since February 2026 it includes downloads and background play for most videos, although not for music or Shorts.
When To Cancel So You Are Not Charged Again
YouTube does not publish a 48 hour cutoff the way some services do. Its rule is simple: once you cancel, you will not be charged again unless you subscribe again, and your benefits continue until the end of the billing period you already paid for.
Cancel at least a day before your billing date. Renewals process on the billing date itself, so leaving it to the last evening risks the charge going through first.
Cancel early if you like. There is no benefit to waiting, because you keep Premium until the end of the paid period either way.
Apple subscriptions follow Apple’s rule. Apple asks you to cancel at least 24 hours before renewal.
Find your date first. Your next billing date is shown on youtube.com/paid_memberships, or under Subscriptions in your Apple account.
How To Cancel YouTube Premium On A Computer
This works for anyone billed directly by YouTube, and it is also the easiest route on an iPhone if your membership is not billed through Apple. Just open the same page in Safari.
Go to youtube.com/paid_memberships and sign in with the Google account that holds the membership.
Click Manage membership next to YouTube Premium.
Click Deactivate. YouTube offers you a pause here first. Pausing is not cancelling, so skip it if you want to leave.
Click Continue to cancel.
Choose a reason and click Next.
Click Yes, cancel. Stopping on any earlier screen leaves the membership active.
Check the result. The page should now show the date your benefits end rather than a next billing date. YouTube also sends a confirmation email.
How To Cancel YouTube Premium On Android
On Android, YouTube Premium is billed through your Google account, so you cancel inside the YouTube app rather than in the Play Store’s subscription list.
Open the YouTube app and tap your profile picture.
Tap Paid memberships. On some app versions this sits under Purchases and memberships.
Select YouTube Premium.
Tap Continue to cancel.
Choose your reason and tap Next.
Tap Yes, cancel.
If the membership does not appear, you are signed in to a different Google account from the one that pays. Switch accounts from your profile picture and look again.
How To Cancel YouTube Premium On iPhone
There are two possibilities on an iPhone or iPad. If you joined in a browser or on another device, YouTube bills you and you cancel at youtube.com/paid_memberships in Safari, using the computer steps above. If you joined inside the YouTube iOS app, Apple bills you and YouTube cannot cancel it. Your statement will read APPLE.COM/BILL.
Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap your name at the top, then Subscriptions.
Select YouTube Premium (it may be listed as YouTube).
Tap Cancel Subscription and confirm.
Apple keeps your benefits running until the end of the paid period. If YouTube is not in the list, check whether another Apple Account on the device made the purchase, or whether the membership is actually billed by YouTube.
Paying Through Apple? You Are Probably Paying More
This is the edge case most people miss. After the 2026 increase, an individual Premium membership bought in the iPhone app costs around $20.99 a month in the US, about $5 more than the $15.99 direct price. YouTube’s own price notice to Apple-billed members pointed out that signing up on the website is cheaper.
If you want to keep Premium but pay less, the switch works like this:
Cancel in iPhone Settings, under Subscriptions, as above.
Wait for the Apple period to end. Your benefits stay active until then.
Subscribe again at youtube.com/premium in a browser, signed in to the same Google account.
Note that Apple-billed members cannot use YouTube’s pause feature, which is another reason to move billing to YouTube directly if you might want to pause later.
How To Cancel YouTube Premium Through Verizon
Verizon sells YouTube Premium as a monthly perk on its plans. When Verizon bills it, you cancel it in Verizon’s system, not on YouTube.
Sign in to My Verizon in the app or on the website.
Open your plan’s perks and find YouTube Premium.
Remove the perk and confirm.
Verizon says Premium continues until the end of that month and the perk charge is not refunded or prorated. One trap to know about: if you had a direct YouTube Premium subscription before the perk, Verizon warns it may resume automatically once the perk ends. Check youtube.com/paid_memberships afterwards and cancel there too if it has come back. Other carrier and device promotions work the same way, so start with whoever is billing you.
Family Plans: Manager Versus Member
A YouTube Premium family plan is shared by a family manager and up to five other people in the same household. Only the manager pays, and only the manager can cancel.
You are
What you can do
What happens
The family manager
Cancel the family plan with the normal steps
Everyone keeps Premium until the end of the billing cycle, then all members lose it. Their Google accounts are unaffected.
The family manager
Remove one person from the family group
That person loses Premium; the plan continues for everyone else at the same price
A family member
Leave the family group
You lose Premium, and nothing is charged to you. You can only switch family groups once every 12 months.
A family member
Cancel the plan
Not possible. Ask the manager.
If you are a member who is being charged separately, you are not using the family plan. You have your own individual membership, and you cancel it with the steps above.
How To Cancel The YouTube Premium Free Trial
You cancel a trial with exactly the same steps as a paid membership. YouTube says that when a trial ends, the membership renews automatically on the payment method you added at sign up, unless you cancelled first.
You keep the full trial. If you cancel during a trial, YouTube says you lose access at the end of the trial period, not the day you cancel. So cancelling on day one costs you nothing.
The small charge at sign up is not a payment. YouTube may place a temporary authorisation on your card, which it says disappears within 1 to 14 days.
One trial per 12 months. Standard trials are for first-time members or people who cancelled at least six months earlier. Longer promotional trials are limited to one every three years.
Trial lengths vary with promotions, so read the end date on your Paid memberships page rather than counting days yourself.
How To Cancel YouTube Music Premium
YouTube Music Premium is a separate, cheaper membership that covers only the YouTube Music app. It sits on the same Paid memberships page and cancels the same way: Manage membership, Deactivate, Continue to cancel, Yes, cancel. In the YouTube Music app, tap your profile picture, then Paid memberships.
If you have full YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Premium is already included and will not appear as a separate item. Cancelling YouTube Premium ends both. If you want to keep ad-free music but drop ad-free video, you can cancel Premium and subscribe to YouTube Music Premium on its own at $11.99 a month.
Pause Instead Of Cancel
If you only want a break, YouTube lets you pause a monthly membership for between one and six months. The pause option appears in the cancel flow at youtube.com/paid_memberships: click Manage membership, then Deactivate, then Pause, choose the length with the slider and confirm.
It starts at the end of your current billing cycle, so you keep what you have paid for.
You are not charged while paused, and you and any family members lose Premium benefits during that time.
Downloads stay on your device but cannot be played until you resume.
You resume at the current price, not the price you paid before the pause.
Annual plans cannot be paused, and neither can memberships billed through Apple.
Pausing suits seasonal use, such as a summer away. If you are leaving because of price, cancel instead, since a pause simply restarts billing at the higher rate later.
YouTube Premium Is Not YouTube TV
A lot of people search for one when they mean the other. YouTube Premium removes ads from regular YouTube and adds downloads and YouTube Music. YouTube TV is a live TV streaming service that replaces cable, with a much higher monthly price. They are billed and cancelled separately, and cancelling one does nothing to the other.
If the charge you want to stop is the large one for live channels, follow our guide on how to cancel YouTube TV instead. Both memberships do appear on the same youtube.com/paid_memberships page, so check which one you are clicking before you confirm.
What Happens After You Cancel, Including Downloads
You keep every Premium benefit until the end of the billing period you already paid for. After that date, this is what changes:
Premium feature
After your membership ends
Ad-free videos
Ads return on YouTube, including on TVs and consoles signed in to your account
Downloaded videos
No longer playable; they are cleared the next time the app syncs
Background play
Video stops when you leave the app or lock the screen
YouTube Music Premium
Ads return in YouTube Music and music downloads stop working
Family members
Everyone on your family plan loses Premium on the same date
Your channel, playlists and history
Unchanged; they belong to your Google account, not the membership
So yes, if you cancel YouTube Premium you lose your downloads. Downloads only play while you are signed in to a Premium account, and the app checks in with YouTube at least every 29 days. If you are about to travel, cancel after the trip, or download what you need before the end date and keep in mind it stops working once the membership lapses.
Cancel YouTube Premium Or Delete Your Account?
Your YouTube account is your Google account, so deleting it is a much bigger step than most people intend. Almost everyone only needs to cancel.
Cancel YouTube Premium
Delete YouTube channel or Google account
Stops the Premium charge
Yes
Cancel Premium first; do not rely on deletion
Keeps playlists, subscriptions and history
Yes
No
Keeps Gmail, Drive and other Google services
Yes
Deleting the Google account removes them all
Keeps your uploaded videos
Yes
No
Reversible
Yes, rejoin any time
Generally not
Where to do it
youtube.com/paid_memberships
YouTube or Google account settings
If you do decide to delete a channel or account, cancel every paid membership first and wait for the confirmation, especially if Apple or a carrier bills you, because those charges can carry on independently.
Can You Get A YouTube Premium Refund?
Usually not for simply changing your mind. YouTube’s help centre says cancelling stops future charges and you keep your benefits until the cycle ends, but you are not refunded for the period between cancelling and the end date. There are a few situations where a refund is realistic:
The service did not work. YouTube may refund when features you paid for do not work. Request it while signed in, from the refund page in YouTube’s help centre.
You were charged after a trial you meant to cancel. There is no guarantee, but asking quickly and before using any benefits gives you the best chance.
You did not authorise the charge. Report it to YouTube support promptly, and check for a second Google account first.
Apple billed you. Apple decides, under its own refund policy. Request it through Apple, not YouTube.
Verizon billed you. Verizon says the perk charge is not refunded or prorated.
If a refund is approved, your Premium benefits stop straight away rather than at the end of the cycle. Consumer law in some countries gives extra cancellation rights, so check the rules where you live. A bank chargeback is a last resort, since it can affect your Google account and other purchases.
Still Being Charged? Troubleshooting
Symptom
Likely cause
Fix
No membership on the Paid memberships page
Wrong Google account, or Apple or Verizon bills you
Switch accounts, then check iPhone Subscriptions and My Verizon
No cancel button at all
You are a family member, not the manager
Leave the family group or ask the manager to cancel
Page still shows a next billing date
You stopped before Yes, cancel
Repeat the steps until an end date appears
Charged the day you cancelled
The renewal processed before your cancellation
Contact YouTube support with the date and time you cancelled
Charged after removing the Verizon perk
An old direct subscription resumed
Cancel it at youtube.com/paid_memberships
Paying about $21 a month
Apple App Store pricing
Cancel in iPhone Settings and resubscribe on the web
A much larger YouTube charge
YouTube TV, not Premium
Cancel YouTube TV separately
If none of these explains it, contact YouTube through the help centre while signed in, and include your confirmation email or a screenshot of the Paid memberships page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I cancel YouTube Premium?
Go to youtube.com/paid_memberships, click Manage membership, then Deactivate, then Continue to cancel, choose a reason and click Yes, cancel. If you joined in the iPhone app, cancel in iPhone Settings under Subscriptions.
Can I cancel YouTube Premium anytime?
Yes. There is no contract or cancellation fee, and you keep Premium until the end of the period you already paid for.
If I cancel YouTube Premium, will I lose my downloads?
Yes, once the membership ends. Downloads keep working until your paid period runs out, then they stop playing and are removed when the app next syncs.
What happens if I cancel YouTube Premium early?
Nothing changes until your billing date. You keep every benefit until then, and you are not charged again. You do not get money back for the unused days.
How much is YouTube Premium in 2026?
In the US, $15.99 a month for an individual, $159.99 a year on the annual plan, $26.99 a month for a family, and $8.99 a month for students or Premium Lite, when you pay YouTube directly.
Why is YouTube Premium more expensive on my iPhone?
Memberships bought inside the iOS app are billed by Apple at a higher price. Cancel in iPhone Settings and subscribe again in a browser to pay the standard rate.
Can a family member cancel YouTube Premium?
No. Only the family manager can cancel the family plan. A member can leave the family group, which ends their own access without affecting anyone else.
Does cancelling YouTube Premium cancel YouTube Music?
Yes. YouTube Music Premium is included in YouTube Premium, so both end together. A standalone YouTube Music Premium membership is cancelled separately on the same page.
Does cancelling YouTube Premium cancel YouTube TV?
No. They are separate subscriptions and each needs to be cancelled on its own.
Can I get another free trial if I rejoin?
Only if you have been gone long enough. YouTube allows one standard trial per 12 months, for people who cancelled at least six months earlier.
More Cancellation Guides
Our guide on how to cancel subscriptions online covers the general approach. If you are clearing out streaming services, these are the ones people most often forget:
