How to cancel Apple Music

Apple bills this one, so it cancels in iOS Settings and nowhere else. Cancelling in the app itself does nothing.

The catch

Apple bills this one, so it cancels in iOS Settings and nowhere else. Cancelling in the app itself does nothing.

Cancel Apple Music step by step

  1. Go to music.apple.com and sign in
  2. Tap or click the My Account icon, then choose Settings
  3. Scroll to Subscriptions and choose Manage
  4. Choose Cancel Subscription
Open the Apple Music cancellation pageTheir help page

After you cancel Apple Music

Your library is the thing at risk, and it is worth understanding before you confirm. Anything added from the Apple Music catalogue is licensed rather than owned, so those songs, albums and playlists disappear from your library when the subscription ends. Music you bought from iTunes, or imported from your own CDs and files, stays yours and keeps playing.

Playlists built out of catalogue tracks survive as empty or partial shells, which is a worse outcome than losing them cleanly, because a playlist you spent years building comes back looking intact and plays almost nothing. If those playlists matter, export them or move them to another service before the period ends. Several free tools do this in a few minutes and none of them work after the subscription lapses.

Downloads stop playing at the end of the period and the files are removed from the device. Apple keeps your library data for roughly thirty days after cancellation, so resubscribing quickly restores everything. Past that window it is gone, and this is the one deadline on this page that is genuinely short.

Apple bills this one

Apple Music is billed by Apple rather than by Apple Music directly. That means cancelling inside the app does nothing at all. Open iOS Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions, and cancel it there. The same applies on a Mac under System Settings.

Every subscription Apple bills for

Cheaper than cancelling

If you would rather keep Apple Music than lose it, there is a cheaper way to have the same thing.

  • Share a family plan

    Roughly 40 percent less than what you pay now

    The same subscription, split across a household.

    Assumes if you split it with two or more people.

    Where to change it

  • Student plan

    Roughly 50 percent less than what you pay now

    The full subscription at the student rate.

    Assumes if you are enrolled and can verify it.

    Where to change it

Estimates, not quotes. The figures are a share of what you already pay, because a ratio survives currency and region and goes stale slower than a fixed price.

Every subscription with a cheaper plan

Worth knowing

Apple-billed — cancel via Apple Settings / StoreKit manage subscriptions. If purchased via Google Play on Android, cancel in the Apple Music Android app or at play.google.com instead.

Questions people ask about cancelling Apple Music

Do I lose my playlists when I cancel Apple Music?
Effectively yes. Playlists made of catalogue tracks lose their contents, since those tracks were licensed rather than owned. Export them or transfer them to another service before the subscription ends, because that is not possible afterwards.
Do I keep music I bought from iTunes?
Yes. Purchased tracks and albums, along with anything you imported from your own files or CDs, stay in your library permanently and keep playing without a subscription. Only the streamed catalogue additions go.
How long do I have to change my mind?
About thirty days. Apple retains your library data for roughly a month after the subscription ends, so resubscribing inside that window restores your library and playlists. After it, the library is deleted and cannot be recovered.
Is Apple One or a family plan cheaper than cancelling?
If you use more than one Apple service, Apple One bundles Music with iCloud+, TV+ and Arcade for less than the sum of the parts. A family plan splits one subscription across up to six people, each with their own separate library.

Written and checked by a person, 1 September 2026.

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