$0.99 today — $585 a year
How the free-trial trap works
Lesson 1 of 6 · ~6 minutes
The setup is almost always the same. You’re offered a chance to try an app for a token amount — $0.99 or $1. You enter your card, and a few days later the real subscription kicks in: $30–$60 every 4 weeks or $10–$20 every week.
Technically everything is above board: the terms are written somewhere. But the page is built so that you remember the first price and miss the second one.
This is the payment screen of a made-up weight-loss app. Tap anything that looks suspicious. There are 7 tricks hidden here.
- The “discount reserved” timer: The timer doesn’t reserve anything. When it hits zero, it simply starts over, and it also restarts when you reload the page. Its only job is to keep you from thinking it over.
- A plan is already picked for you: The middle plan is labeled “Most popular” and selected in advance. Most people never change the default, so the default is the option that pays the seller best.
- The crossed-out “per day” price: The “$6.43 per day” price is the full 4-week price divided by 7 days. Nobody has ever paid that price: it was made up so that a “98% off” deal looks real.
- $0.99 in big letters: The biggest number on the screen is the price of the trial week. The price you’ll pay after that isn’t shown on the plan screen at all.
- The important part in tiny gray print: Under the button it says you’ll be charged $44.99 in 7 days, then every 4 weeks after that, and that you can only cancel by emailing support. This is the most important information on the page, and it’s in the smallest print.
- A money-back guarantee with a catch: The “100% money-back guarantee” badge is big, but the catch is hidden in the terms: you get your money back only if you completed all 30 days of the program and can prove it. Almost nobody can.
- “214 people joined today”: This number isn’t counted — it’s written into the page and is the same for every visitor on any day. The goal is to make you feel that “everyone has already bought it.”
Do the math yourself
Pick a plan and see how much it costs for the first year if you forget to cancel. And most people do forget.
The three-question rule
Before you tap “Pay,” find the answers to three questions on the page. If even one answer is missing, don’t pay.
- How much will they charge after the trial?
- How often will they charge: every week, every 4 weeks, every month, every year?
- How do you cancel: in the app’s settings, or only by emailing support?
Quiz
A trial week costs $0.99, then $44.99 every 4 weeks. How much will you pay in the first year if you don’t cancel?
- About $45
- About $540
- About $585
- $0.99 — it’s just a trial
$0.99 plus 13 charges of $44.99 — about $585. A year has 13 four-week periods, not 12.
The screen shows a timer: “Discount reserved for 09:59.” What happens when it hits zero?
- The discount is gone forever
- Most likely, the timer starts over or the discount stays the same
- The price doubles
Timers like this usually don’t reserve anything. They restart and are only there to pressure you.
Where on a payment screen is the after-trial price usually written?
- In big print on the plan card
- In tiny gray print under the pay button
- In a separate email after you pay
The key subscription terms are usually set in the smallest, palest print right under the button.
What should you do right after starting a free trial?
- Nothing, I’ll cancel later
- Set a reminder or turn off auto-renewal right away
- Delete the app — the subscription will cancel itself
Deleting the app does not cancel the subscription. A reminder or turning off auto-renewal does.
The article that’s really an ad
All apps, authors, publications and reviews in this course are made up. Any resemblance to real products is a coincidence. Only the tricks are real.