How to cancel subscription for apple tv

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for insider tips and product reviews from our shopping experts

Sign up for our free IndyBest email

There are more streaming services to choose from than ever before. Netflix was the dominant player, but now it is fighting for your attention against Disney+, Amazon Prime, Now and more. With consumers in the grip of the cost of living crisis looking to lower their monthly bills, it might be the right time to take stock of which streaming services you actually need.

Apple TV+ is one of the cheapest TV subscriptions currently available, but being one of the newest services means it also has one of the smallest content catalogues. And while its library has grown steadily since it launched in late-2019, the pandemic slowed the iPhone maker’s plans to truly rival the scale of Netflix and Amazon Prime TV.

Still, there are some quality shows to be consumed on Apple TV+. But many viewers will see this as a service that can be subscribed to on an ad hoc basis, dipping in and out when shows pique your interest, rather than paying up every single month.

And, let’s be honest, we’re all guilty of signing up for a new service just to take advantage of the free trial period. Apple TV+ has a generous seven-day free trial, as well as a three-month taster if you recently purchased a qualifying Apple product, so you can make good use of the freebies before having to pay.

What’s more, the first episode of every original Apple series is free to watch without a subscription – although you still need an Apple ID to log in – so you can get a feel for a show before stumping up any cash for the remaining episodes. If you’ve managed to binge two seasons of Ted Lasso in a weekend and don’t fancy any of the other shows on offer, we get it, and we’re pleased to report that cancelling your subscription is easy.

Read more:

• Best TV deals in the UK for July 2022
• Best laptops 2022: High-performance devices for WFH
• Here’s how to get free headphones with ​​the Sony Xperia 1 IV
• 11 best TV streaming devices and boxes for binge-watching

Here, we’ll explain exactly how to cancel your Apple TV+ subscription, and look at some alternative streaming services.

How much is Apple TV+?

As we said earlier, Apple TV+ is one of the cheapest streaming services around, with a monthly subscription costing £4.99. For this, you get full access to the entire catalogue and at the highest resolution and audio quality each show is offered in – so if it’s available in Ultra HD with Atmos sound, that’s what you’ll get. This differs to Netflix, where higher resolution and improved sound costs more.

Apple offers a seven-day free trial for new subscribers, and a three-month free trial if you buy a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac, and take out a subscription within 90 days of your purchase.

Lastly, Apple TV+ is available with all three bundles of Apple One, a package that includes several Apple subscription service for one monthly fee. This starts at £14.95 a month for access to Apple Music, TV+, Arcade and 50GB of iCloud+ storage, rising to £19.95 when upgrading to 200GB of iCloud+ storage, and capping at £29.95 a month when iCloud+ is increased to 2TB. This premium tier also includes Apple’s News+ and Fitness+ subscription services.

What’s on Apple TV+?

An early success story for Apple TV+ is the Emmy award-winning Ted Lasso, a feel-good comedy starring Jason Sudeikis as a hapless American football coach hired to manage a British football team.

Emmy Nominations

Another well received show that premiered recently on the platform is Severance, a sci-fi thriller centred around the premise of surgically splitting people’s minds for a better work/life balance, starring Adam Scott as an office worker for an ethically dubious corporation.

The Morning Show is another critically acclaimed show that boasts an A-list cast, including Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell. It is a workplace drama set inside a news production company amid the #MeToo movement.

If you have children, then Apple TV+ also has a number of kids programmes, such as The Snoopy Show and the reboot of Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock.

A handful of films are also available exclusively on Apple TV+ such as the Oscar winning film CODA, about a young child of deaf parents who must balance helping her family keep their fishing business afloat with her new found passion for singing.

Read more: Paramount Plus has launched in the UK, here’s how to start watching

As for recent additions to the service, there’s gothic romance period drama The Essex Serpent. Widow Cora Seaborne (Claire Danes) moves to Essex to investigate reports of a mythical serpent, before forming a surprising bond of science and skepticism with a local pastor, played by Tom Hiddleston.

Fans of David Attenborough documentaries will also enjoy Prehistoric Planet, a five-part series focused on dinosaurs that arrived on the platform earlier this year.

How to cancel Apple TV+

There are several ways to cancel your Apple TV+ subscription, depending on which device you using to access the service.

If you want to cancel your subscription on a browser, go to the Apple TV website and click the profile icon at the top of the page. Make sure you are signed in with the Apple ID you have used for your subscription and click “settings”. Scroll to “Subscriptions” and then choose “Manage”. From there, you should have an option to cancel your Apple TV+ subscription.

Here’s how to cancel the subscription on your iOS device

(The Independent)

If you want to cancel the subscription on your iOS device, open the Settings app, click on your name/Apple ID and then click on Subscriptions. Here you can manage your individual memberships, so click “Cancel Subscription” on the service you want to stop using, in this case, Apple TV+.

If you’re unsubscribing from a Mac, open up the App Store and either click the sign in button, or your name at the top of the sidebar. Next, click “View Information” and on that page, scroll until you see Subscriptions and click “Manage”. Click “Edit” next to the one you want to cancel and then “Cancel Subscription”. If you can’t see this button then you should already be unsubscribed.

If you’re logged into a Windows PC, you can use iTunes to cancel your membership. From the menu bar at the top of the iTunes window, choose “Account”, then choose “View My Account” where you may be asked to sign in. Click “View Account” then, as above click through “Subscriptions”, then “Manage” and “Edit” next to the subscription you want to change and then click “Cancel Subscription.”

Read more: How much does the Netflix cost in UK and US and what’s included?

You can even cancel your Apple TV+ subscription through your Apple Watch. Simply go to the App store, scroll to “Account” and tap it, tap “Subscriptions” and then “Cancel Subscription” for Apple TV+.

On Apple TV devices, you can only edit subscriptions for installed tvOS apps, so to cancel use one of the methods listed above instead.

Best alternatives to Apple TV+

If you’ve decided to part company with Apple TV+, you might be interested in alternative video streaming services. The obvious first port of call is Netflix, which is full of movies and exclusive TV shows that it has pumped billions of dollars into over the last decade. From Squid Game and Black Mirror, to Stranger Things and Drive to Survive, you are bound to find a Netflix original to sink your teeth into.

The basic package is priced at £6.99 a month, following a recent price increase, but to watch content in HD you’ll need to pay £10.99 a month for the standard package. Fancy your content streamed in 4K? That’ll be £15.99 a month for the premium Netflix package.

Read more: How much does Now cost and what are the best packages?

Alternatively, there’s Now, formerly known as Now TV. The service is owned by Sky and brings Sky Cinema, Sky Entertainment and Sky Sports content to those without a Sky contract, meaning premium TV on a rolling monthly contract.

Prices start at £4.99 a month for the Now Hayu package full of reality TV, climbing to £9.99 a month for Now Cinema, and £33.99 for Now Sports – however, one-day sports passes are also available. You can read more about Now’s subscriptions in our extensive guide.

Amazon Prime, which gives access to Prime Video, as well as other Amazon services like free next-day delivery and Prime Music streaming, is currently priced at £7.99 a month or £79 a year. However, the retail giant announced in July that from 15 September the price of Prime (for all subscribers, new and old) will increase to £8.99 a month or £95 annually.

Alternatively, if you only want Prime Video, this is priced at £5.99 a month and is not subject to the same September increase. If you aren’t yet a Prime subscriber, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial to see if this is the streaming service for you.

Read more: How much does Amazon Prime Video cost in the UK vs the US and what’s included?

Or there’s other streaming newcomer Disney+, which launched in 2019 and came to the UK in 2020. It already boasts over 130 million subscribers globally, and includes access to Disney’s entire back catalogue, plus all titles from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the entire Star Wars collection, all 33 series of The Simpsons, and exclusive documentaries like The Beatles: Get Back.

Disney+ costs £7.99 per month in the UK or £79.90 annually. Subscribers in the US pay $7.99 a month or $79.99 per year. For more information about the subscription service that is most definitley not just for kids, read our guide before signing up.

Voucher codes

For the latest discounts on TVs and other tech offers, try the links below:

• AO discount codes
• Very discount codes

Before you start streaming, you may want a new TV to watch your favourite shows on and we’ve rounded up the best deals this month

Can I cancel my Apple TV subscription anytime?

Why can't I cancel my Apple TV subscription?

How do I stop auto renewal on Apple TV?