Subscriptions in MyLife

How to keep all your recurring payments in one place: add a subscription once, and the expense shows up in your wallet by itself on every payment day.

4 min read
Contents
Step 1

What a subscription is

A subscription describes a recurring payment: music, cloud storage, your phone plan, the gym. You add it once, and the app adds the expenses by itself.

🧾

Regular expense

You enter it by hand every time you pay.

🔂

Subscription

The expense appears in your wallet by itself on every billing day: with the subscription’s name, the “Subscription” category and its life area.

You open the section from Budget: “Subscriptions” sits in the row next to “Debts” on iPhone, iPad and Android, and has its own menu item in the web app.

Step 2

How to add a subscription

Tap “Add subscription” and fill in five fields. The name and an amount above zero are required.

  • ✏️

    Name

    “Spotify Premium”, “iCloud+ 200 GB”, “Gym membership”. It also becomes the note on each expense.

  • 💰

    Amount

    In the wallet’s main currency: how much is charged per period.

  • 📅

    Start date

    The first charge, no later than today. All following charges are counted from it.

  • 🔁

    Billing period

    Month, quarter, half year or year.

  • 🧭

    Life area

    Goes into every expense. Optional.

⏪
If you’ve been paying for a while, set the real date of the first payment: the app will add all past charges right away, and they’ll land in the stats for their months.
Step 3

Billing period

The charge repeats on the same day of the month as the start date, after the chosen number of months.

Every month 1Every quarter 3Every half year 6Every year 12
  • Started on the 5th: you’ll be charged on the 5th of each period.
  • The 29th, 30th and 31st: in a short month, the charge falls on the last day and continues from that date. A subscription started on January 31 is charged on February 28, then on March 28.
  • There’s no weekly or custom period. For payments like that, use a repeating task with a reminder.
Step 4

Automatic expenses

On the billing day, the expense appears in your wallet by itself. The app does this on your device when you open it.

  1. On save

    If the start date is today or in the past, expenses for every date up to today appear right away.

  2. When you open the app

    Missed charges are filled in, each with its own date. If you don’t open the app for three months, three expenses will appear.

  3. No future expenses

    The expense is created on the billing day, so it won’t be in your wallet in advance.

  • Account: the wallet’s first account in the main currency. You can’t choose a different account.
  • Category: the system “Subscription” category 🔂, with the subscription name in the note.
  • You can open and edit the expense in Budget, like any other.
💻
In the web app, charges are checked when you open “Overview” or “Subscriptions”.
Step 5

List and total

The Subscriptions screen collects all your recurring payments and the total they take.

  • The total in the header is shown in the main currency. On Android and in the web app, it’s converted to a month and a year: a $30 quarterly subscription counts as $10 a month.
  • The card on iPhone: the life area emoji (or 🔂 if there’s no life area), the name and the day of the month when you’re charged.
  • The card on Android and the web also shows the amount, billing period and next charge date.
  • Tap a card to open the subscription and edit it.
The Subscriptions screen: a total of $114.98 and five subscriptions (Spotify Premium, ChatGPT Plus, Gym membership, iCloud+, Phone plan) with their billing days
Subscriptions on iPhone
🔎
Scroll through the list once a quarter: you’ll often find a service you haven’t used in ages.
Step 6

Editing and deleting

You can change any field. The past isn’t rewritten.

  • A new amount or life area applies to future charges. Expenses already created stay as they were: the history shows what you paid back then.
  • Moving the start date back doesn’t add past charges. If you need them, enter them by hand.
  • Deleting: the trash icon on the subscription screen, and the app asks you to confirm. On iPhone and iPad, you can also swipe left on the card, which deletes it right away.
  • Expenses of a deleted subscription stay in your wallet: history and balances don’t change. Delete any expense you don’t need in Budget.
FAQ

FAQ

How is a subscription different from a regular expense?
You enter an expense by hand, once. With a subscription, the app adds the expense by itself on every billing day, with its name, the “Subscription” category and the life area.
What happens if I set a start date in the past?
The app immediately adds every charge from the start date to today, each with its own date. That way an old subscription shows up in full in your stats for past months.
Will a payment be charged if I haven’t opened the app?
Yes, the next time you open it. The expense will have the date the charge was due, not the date you opened the app.
What happens to the expenses if I delete a subscription?
Expenses already created stay in your wallet, and history and balances don’t change. You can delete any expense you don’t need in Budget.
Are past charges recalculated if I change the amount?
No. The new amount applies to future charges, and past expenses keep the old amount.
Which currency and account are charges made from?
The wallet’s main currency, from the first account in that currency. You can’t choose the account or currency for a subscription. If a payment goes from a card in another currency, enter it as an expense by hand.
Can I get a reminder before a charge?
Subscriptions don’t have reminders. To cancel a free trial in time, create a task for the right day with a reminder.
Why do I have two categories: “Subscription” and “Subscriptions”?
“Subscription” 🔂 is a system category for automatic expenses. “Subscriptions” is a regular one that may have been created when you first launched the app. You can use it for manual expenses or delete it.
Do I need PRO?
No, subscriptions are free and unlimited on all devices.
Read next
BudgetAccounts, expenses and analytics Budget PlanFixed expenses for the month DebtsLoans and credit

Keep all your subscriptions in one place

Add your three or four main subscriptions, and at the end of the month you’ll see how much goes to services.

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