Having a YouTube Premium subscription is excellent. You get no ads and access to various special content from your favorite creators.
But you’re now working from home, and you can enjoy YouTube from your browser with an AdBlocker. Or what if you’ve watched all the premium content from your favorite creators?
Table of Contents - How to Cancel YouTube Premium Subscription - What is YouTube Premium? - Does YouTube Provide Refunds?
In that case, you might want to stop paying for subscriptions, and this article will show you how to cancel YouTube premium via its mobile app or web browsers.
Let’s dive right in.
How to Cancel YouTube Premium Subscription
Since YouTube is a multi-platform video-sharing website, there is more than one way to cancel your YouTube Premium subscription. But the most common ways are through web browsers and the YouTube mobile app.
Let’s guide you through how to cancel YouTube premium from the web first.
How to Cancel YouTube Premium via Web
Follow these steps to cancel your YouTube Premium subscription from a web browser:
- Open YouTube from your web browser, and sign in to your account.
- Click on your account profile picture.
- Choose ‘Purchase and memberships‘ from the drop-down menu and click the ‘Manage membership’ option.
- Select the ‘Deactivate’ option, and then click ‘Continue to cancel.’
- Select the reason you want to cancel.
- Confirm your cancellation, and you’ve successfully stopped your subscription.
How to Cancel YouTube Premium via Mobile
If you want to cancel your YouTube Premium subscription from a mobile device, follow these steps:
- Open the YouTube app on your phone.
- Tap on your account profile picture, then select ‘Purchases and memberships.’
- Tap on the membership you want to cancel.
- Select the ‘Deactivate‘ option and tap the ‘Continue to cancel’ option at the bottom of your screen.
- Choose a reason why you want to cancel your membership.
- Confirm the cancellation.
What is YouTube Premium?
YouTube Premium (formerly YouTube Red) is a monthly paid subscription service that offers a better viewing experience for users by removing ads and unlocking premium content made by top YouTube creators.
There are several key benefits that YouTube Premium promises to deliver to its subscribers:
Ad-free videos
YouTube premium allows you to watch any YouTube videos without interruption before, during, or after the video. All banner ads within the YouTube website and mobile app will also disappear for premium members.
You will see videos with branding or promotions from various creators integrated into the content due to their partnership with third-party sponsors.
Ad removal is available across all devices and platforms as long as you use your Google account, including smart devices and game consoles where YouTube apps are available.
Download videos to watch offline
With YouTube premium, you can download your favorite videos into your device and watch them later, even when you don’t have an active internet connection. The download video feature is also available for YouTube Music and YouTube Kids app.
You can download videos using your premium subscription by following these steps:
- Open up a video on your YouTube app.
- Tap the ‘Download’ button just below the video player.
- Choose the video quality you want to download. The better the quality, the more storage space it would take.
- Tap ‘Download,’ and the video will be saved to your device.
- You can view videos you’ve downloaded under the ‘Library’ tab.
The downloaded videos will remain on your device for 30 days and be automatically deleted after that period.
It’s also worth noting that downloaded videos are tied to your premium account, not your device. In other words, you can’t use another account to view the downloaded videos even when you use the same device.
Due to content restrictions, not all videos are downloadable, such as those from YouTube Movies & Shows and music. You also can’t comment, like, or share a video when viewing it offline.
Minimized playback
One of the biggest restrictions about the YouTube app is keeping it open to play videos. With a premium subscription, you will be able to play videos while the app runs in the background.
The background play is also available on the YouTube Music and YouTube Kids app under the same account. When you subscribe to a premium account, videos will automatically play in the background. But you can customize it into three configurations:
- Always on: videos will always play in the background.
- Off: videos will not play in the background.
- Headphones or external speakers: videos will play only when your device is connected to headphones, speakers, or other external audio outputs.
YouTube originals & music
Subscribing to YouTube Premium also grants you access to various series and movies from YouTube creators the day they get released. You can also use the YouTube Music app with all the perks, including an ad-free and offline listening experience.
Want to Make Money by Uploading Videos to YouTube? Learn more
Does YouTube Provide Refunds?
Short answer: yes, you can request refunds for your YouTube paid memberships if the content or features related to it are defective, unavailable, or do not perform as offered.
If that is the case for you, visit the YouTube refund policies page to request a refund for your memberships.
However, YouTube doesn’t provide refunds or credits if your billing period has elapsed (even if it’s only one or two days). So, if you’re trying to get a refund for a membership that you simply forget to cancel – you should save the effort and enjoy the perks for the next month.
If you have canceled a paid membership before its renewal date, you will not receive any billing charge after your membership period has ended. If you cancel before the next billing date, your benefits will continue until the end of the current cycle.
Conclusions
YouTube Premium is one of the few paid memberships that the Google-owned platform has to offer. If you’d like to watch hours of YouTube content ad-free or get access to paywalled content from your favorite creators, it’s definitely worth the price.
With that said, canceling the YouTube Premium subscription is not as complicated as canceling your gym membership or cable subscription. The whole cancellation process is pretty straightforward and takes no more than a few minutes of your time.
If you’re planning to stop your membership, it’s best to do it before the next billing cycle since you still get all the benefits until the end of your subscription. Plus, YouTube doesn’t provide refunds for partially-elapsed subscription periods or non-faulty charges.
