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How do I cancel a pending payment on the App Store?

I did an in-app purchase which is still pending another payment method which i don’t have..so i can’t use the app store..why was the purchase honored if my card was declined


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 13 Pro, iOS 16

Posted on Oct 4, 2023 1:37 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 15, 2024 10:07 AM

The thing is that i didnt consent to that. I wanted to make an ingame purchase and the purchase i made went over the limit, i didnt have enough money for it. Instead of apple declining that purchase for insufficient funds, they signed me for a debt and i didnt consent for that, they didnt even notify me, the owed purchase is still hanging there and i found out only recently. What is that? Youre telling me thats completely legal to do that? Im still a minor and i dont even have that amount of money that apple signed me for. This never happened before, if i didnt have enough money the purchase just wouldnt process, but now i just randomly owe apple almost $40 for what??? I never agreed to that, i dont care if i lose my stuff ingame but i need to cancel this, i cant even use app store or anything related to it anymore. And the worst part is that i cant even contact a real apple employee to report this, they simply dont have a chat or support email to report this problem.

38 replies

Sep 19, 2024 7:40 AM in response to Beverly-419

Beverly-419 wrote:

I am unable to update or download any apps due to a pending purchase I never received the purchase and need any pending purchases removed so I can use my phone properly

You cannot cancel a pending payment. You must allow it to successfully complete.

Add a verifiable payment method to your account to allow the pending payment to complete. Once that happens you can request a refund for it if you don't need whatever you bought.

click here ➜ Add a payment method to your Apple ID - Apple Support

then here ➜ Request a refund for apps or content that you bought from Apple - Apple Support


You will not be allowed to use the App Store until the pending payment completes successfully.


You have not received the purchase because if the charge is still pending, you have to yet pay for it. You need to successfully complete the payment to get the object that was purchased.



Dec 4, 2023 6:36 AM in response to sammy_rome

Signing out of your apple ID does not delete any data.


But all Apps and purchased content will remain tied to the Apple ID that downloaded it, so you will still be unable to update your apps, and you will lose access to all purchased movies and any active subscriptions.


Creating a new apple ID is probably one of the worst suggestions to try to resolve this. It will just cause more issues than it may solve. Don't do it.

Jan 29, 2024 7:09 AM in response to elysia82

elysia82 wrote:

I don’t get it. They’ll leave a pending payment for 6 months or a year continually trying over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over against even though you’ve cancelled all subscriptions.

”Make a new apple ID.” Yeah, make me a new computer and team of people who aren’t in the slave category.

~ Enna Riddle

Any pending payment you have your are legally responsible for. You entered into a contract with Apple for a service or app. You owe that money until you pay it. The purchase was initiated an Apple needs to either pay the developer and absorb the loss or lie to the developer not tell them their app was purchased or subscribed to. Do you honestly think they are going to just absorb the loss on literally millions of dollars of purchases people never complete?


It is a financial contract, and you are responsible for that charge until its been satisfied. This is not slavery. Nobody forced you to buy or download an app that had a subscription that then tried to charge you. You did that on your own.


As mentioned you can request a refund after its been payed correctly.

Feb 21, 2024 6:38 AM in response to niyah134

niyah134 wrote:

Mines has been there since the beginning on 2024 and i cant cancel it

Nor will you ever be able to cancel it. You need to let it complete. Then you can request a refund for it.

Any pending payment you have your are legally responsible for. You
entered into a contract with Apple for a service or app. You owe that
money until you pay it.


Jul 4, 2024 3:19 PM in response to Phil0124

Hey Phil0124,


I noticed that you are part of the Apple Community+ Program, I was just thinking, why don’t you try to suggest to Apple to make a way to opt out of “unpayable depts” or pending payments due to insufficient funds. I personally think that this would do a lot of good for Apple since as I can see a lot of people have frustrations with this problem and the most common reason for this issue is younger kids purchasing either apps or in game purchases without permission. I already know, people shouldn’t be putting kids in a situation where that can happen accidentally but accidents happen all the time, we might as well make it an accident where we don’t have to create a whole new Apple ID or pay and hope that the refund you requested actually comes in. I am fully aware that there is a refund method and you can state a reason as child purchased without knowledge but that is not always trustworthy to majority of people since they do not “trust technology” Apple will not be losing a ton of money by doing this since it will make other people’s experience with Apple purchases a lot less annoying which will lead to better reviews for Apple. I’m aware that this is easier said than done and there may have been some attempts or thought to this idea but as an Apple user myself and someone who has been a victim of this where a purchase made by a younger sibling is trying to go through but there is not enough funds I would say that it is worth trying to get this in motion rather than having people struggling and stressing, and telling people what they have already heard and seen hundreds of times. Now I have to pay for the dept and cross my fingers that I get a refund.


Thank you

Oct 19, 2024 12:21 PM in response to yoshi2364

This is exactly what happened to me bro. Like bro apple needs to fix this. I cant even purchase anything else.it has me on 116$ dollar debt which I had the money for the 10$ pass I had bought which went thru but then it got added to the debt?? and then I wanted to buy a 100$ purchase but I didnt know If I would have a enough turns Out I didn’t bc It never really charged me but instead it put me in DEBT. I’m a minor too and do not have the money for that bruhhh.

Oct 21, 2024 1:09 PM in response to yoshi2364

Yeah see the same thing just happened to me with a payment, I got the product but then it REcharged me and now it’s just a pending payment for something I already paid for and I don’t have enough money in my account to pay for it and when I do im going to have to pay for it and then ask Apple for a refund just because it recharged me for no reason??

Oct 21, 2024 1:45 PM in response to MMzzz

MMzzz wrote:

Yeah see the same thing just happened to me with a payment, I got the product but then it REcharged me and now it’s just a pending payment for something I already paid for and I don’t have enough money in my account to pay for it and when I do im going to have to pay for it and then ask Apple for a refund just because it recharged me for no reason??

There has to be a reason for the second charge. The system won't charge you for absolutely no reason.


Whatever it was, it needs to be completed.


With that said, the App Store has no products, only digital apps, so not sure what product you paid for.


If you bought a physical product within an App that has non relation to Apple usually. You pay the App and it delivers the product. If the app charged you twice for something, then you need to deal with them as this is outside the scope of the App Store and Apple's payment platform.



Oct 21, 2024 1:59 PM in response to Phil0124

Okay well let me be more specific. I made an IN APP purchase with Roblox to buy a 9.99 robux pack and it went through successfully and I went on with my day. The next week I try to download an app and it’s not letting me due to my payment method being unreliable or whatever so I go to look and see it’s the same payment I made last week but declined and I personally never made another payment so I went to check my card and no declined payment from Roblox. All of a sudden once I check that I started getting emails of Apple trying to charge my card on this pending payment and I do not have the funds right now to pay for it and once I do I will just to get it over with and get my refund. Stop D riding Apple and js say you want a discount on their products cuz ain’t no way you’re over here replying to every complaint, rudely might I add, just to “help.” Yes lots of us are kids complaining so I feel like that should also tell you “hay maybe they really don’t know how it works” but I don’t think that got through your thick skull yet so ima leave it be. I already know how it works im just commenting on this because of apples new payment method to download policy is a little dumb in my opinion. Thank you for your feedback <3

Nov 16, 2024 5:14 PM in response to ganon88

ganon88 wrote:

I feel the exact same way, I want to run a fade too. And mine is even worse because they “un-cancelled” my free trial without my permission. For a bug-id app. For $30. Smh.

Unclear what you mean by "un-cancelled" your free trial. They will automatically turn into a subscription if not cancelled before the trial period ends. The authorization happens when you start the free trial and it will show the trial period on the screen along with the subscription price and start date. It is actually recommended to cancel at least 24 hours before the trial period ends to avoid any charges.


When you do cancel the subscription, the subscriptions page will show the expiration date instead of renewal date and there will no longer be a cancel button.

How do I cancel a pending payment on the App Store?

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