This free app can save you £640 per year by cancelling subscriptions at the end of free trials

Will you be downloading the app? (Photo: Shutterstock)Will you be downloading the app? (Photo: Shutterstock)
Will you be downloading the app? (Photo: Shutterstock)

How many times have you been caught out by a free trial that ends up costing you money when you forget to cancel it?

A new app is taking the legwork out of cancelling apps you don’t want to pay for.

What’s the app?

The app is called Do Not Pay and the subscription cancellation feature is called Free Trial Surfing. It is currently only available on the iOS Apple app store. There is also a web version in development, and plans to launch an Android version.

The app is set to save people around £640 per year, which is what the average person spends on unwanted subscriptions, according to Citizens Advice.

The Do Not Pay app was originally made by creator Josh Browder to fight parking fines. The idea for the Free Trial Surfing feature came after Browder found he was being charged for a gym membership he wasn’t using.

How does it work?

The feature works by assigning a virtual credit card number and fake name, which customers use to sign up for services they aren’t sure they want to commit to after the free trial ends. The card won’t work if you try to use it to purchase something with it.

The card has been created in partnership with a bank, but Browder hasn’t revealed which one.

Another service of the feature is that it can forward emails between the company and the virtual card, which keeps the customer’s real email address secure.

Browder has said that the two most common subscriptions that the app is used for is to end trials for porn platforms and Netflix.

Does it cost money?

The app is currently available to download for free, but Browder has said that he might start charging a monthly subscription fee of $2 (around £1.80), ironically.

“Maybe one day it will be a cheap subscription, like $2 per month,” Browder told the BBC.

This article originally appeared on our sister site Edinburgh Evening News