I'm done falling for sneaky subscription traps — here's how to avoid them this holiday season

Every holiday season, I tell myself I’m going to spend less, and then I somehow end up paying more without even realizing it.

But the culprit isn’t just shopping sprees or irresistible deals. It’s subscriptions.

This year, I made a conscious effort to track down the sneakiest subscription traps that could drain my wallet.

Here’s what I uncovered, and how to avoid getting caught in the same traps as the holiday deals roll in.

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Posts By  Anu Joy
6 days ago

Free trials that turn expensive when you’re not looking

Free trials are the friendliest-looking trap in the subscription world, especially around the holidays, when nearly every app, streaming service, or productivity tool seems to offer a “no commitment” 7-day or 30-day test run.

It feels harmless in the moment. You tap Start free trial, promise yourself you’ll evaluate it before the deadline, and fully intend to cancel if it’s not worth it.

But during the holiday season, you’re distracted. Everyone’s busy juggling family plans, work deadlines, and sales.

Before you realize it, the trial window closes, the billing date arrives, and the trial has been auto-renewed for a whole month, or worse, a full year.

These trial-to-paid conversions add up shockingly fast. I’ve found myself paying for apps I may have used once and never opened again.

And because holiday deals often bundle “free trials” into purchases, it’s easy to accidentally activate them without fully realizing what you agreed to.

How to avoid it

Whenever I start a free trial, I immediately set a Google Calendar reminder titled Cancel X before charge.

To check the exact renewal date, I open the Google Play Store, tap my profile icon, and go to Subscriptions. The Play Store centralizes everything in one place, which helps me figure out “mystery charges.”

You can also use subscription tracking apps like Bobby, Rocket Money, and Subby to manage these renewals. However, I’ve never been able to stick with them.

They request access to bank messages or require manual entries, and ultimately, they just become another thing to manage.

The worst part is that some of these apps require a subscription. Instead, I’ve found it simpler to add trial end dates to my calendar.

Apps that make canceling intentionally difficult

A surprising number of holiday trial apps bury the cancel button, or worse, don’t allow cancellation from the app at all.

Some require you to go to a website, log in again, and then click through multiple menus.

Some apps may require canceling through their website even if you signed up via Google Play, while some services force you to message support.

Making cancellation a convoluted process increases churn delay, which earns apps an extra month or two of revenue from people who intended to quit.

It’s a dark pattern, and companies know a certain percentage of users simply won’t bother.

How to avoid it

If an app doesn’t allow cancellation through the Play Store, I don’t subscribe anymore.

Google’s built-in controls are the only reason subscription management on Android is tolerable.

You have a single dashboard that displays all your active subscriptions in one convenient location. Cancellation is always just one tap away, regardless of how the app functions.

And if an app forces me outside Google Play to manage billing, I see it as a red flag.

Services that quietly added ‘premium tiers’

Another subscription trap that has become increasingly common lately is the quiet introduction of “premium tiers” in services you have been using for years.

Over time, the features you already rely on start drifting upward behind the paywall. What used to be standard becomes limited, throttled, or available only a few times a month unless you upgrade.

Streaming services love doing this, but they’re not the only ones. Cloud storage providers, note-taking apps, fitness platforms, password managers, and even email clients have all nudged previously free features into paid tiers.

Initially, this change may not seem significant enough for you to decide to unsubscribe. You are already invested in the service, and the upgrade is priced just low enough to feel insignificant.

But stack a few of these “tiny” upgrades across the apps and services you use every day, and suddenly your monthly bill balloons.

How to avoid it

If a service introduces a new paid tier suddenly, carefully review the terms before upgrading. Sometimes the free tier remains perfectly usable; you need to read the fine print.

Additionally, turn on billing notifications wherever you can. Google Play has alerts for upcoming renewals, but you can add your own calendar reminders for apps or services you pay for outside the Play Store.

If a company decides to introduce a new “premium tier” and move essentials behind it, those reminders give you enough time to review the changes before your next billing cycle.

The only way I stay ahead of subscription traps

Unwanted subscriptions and upsells can creep into everyday life, especially around big shopping moments when our guard is down.

But the good news is that when you learn how these traps work, like free-trial conversions, services that hide cancellation options, or apps that sneakily add new premium tiers, you start seeing the patterns everywhere.

Steps like reviewing subscriptions in the Google Play Store and monitoring trials in my calendar help me stay ahead of these tactics.