What Should a User See When They Tap Cancel?

One honest reason to stay, one alternative such as Pause, and an easy way back. That is what the cancel moment should give a subscriber. A discount alone rarely does the job: in an analysis of 22 million Apple retention messages, subscribers accepted only about 1.1% of the discounts they were shown. Design the screen like the rest of your product, because it decides whether a leaving user trusts you enough to return.

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On November 4, Apple made retention messages available for auto-renewable subscriptions. They appear in the cancellation flow, right when someone decides to leave, and can include text, an image or a special offer. You set them up in App Store Connect. So the screen before cancel is now a part of your product that you can design, and a part you can leave blank.

What do we see on cancel screens?

When we review live subscription apps, the cancel path is often the weakest part of the product. It is built to make leaving hard: a Cancel button that is hard to find, several confirmation steps, and offers to stay that keep coming back after the user has already said no.

That path works against you. A person who needed three tries to leave does not feel persuaded. They feel tricked, and they remember it when they think about coming back, writing a review or telling a friend.

What we recommend instead is simple. Make cancelling easy to find and clear. Before the final confirmation, show one alternative that fits this particular user, such as Pause or Downgrade. Then let them leave if they still want to.

What does the data say about discounts?

Many teams reach for a discount first. The numbers argue for caution.

• In RevenueCat’s analysis of 22 million Apple retention messages across 309 apps, subscribers accepted about 1.1% of the discount offers and 0.6% of the plan switches they were shown.

• In RevenueCat’s data from Google Play cancellation surveys, "not enough usage" was the top reason for cancelling (37%), just ahead of cost (35%). If someone does not use the app, a lower price does not give them a reason to stay.

• In one experiment by the audio stories app Dipsea, annual subscribers who tried to cancel saw the same message with or without 50% off. The discount had a slightly higher save rate (22.1% vs 18.8%), but brought in less than half the revenue per subscriber so far ($1.24 vs $3.16). RevenueCat reports this as a single experiment, so treat it as an example, not a rule.

The lesson is not "never offer a discount". It is that a higher save rate does not always mean a better screen. Check what those saved subscribers pay over the next weeks.

What should the screen say?

Start with one reason to stay, not an offer. RevenueCat’s guide gives an example: Character.AI names the one thing a subscriber loses, daily premium chats, and lists what comes back when they cancel: full ads, slow mode and basic memory. A good reason is specific, true and short.

Then choose the alternative. We would test them in this order:

1. Pause, when the user may need the app later. Burner, a phone-number app, offers a $1.99 pause plan instead of the $9.99 standard plan. At the RevenueCat conference App Growth Annual, Burner said it saves about 10% of would-be cancellations.

2. Downgrade, when the user is paying for more than they use.

3. A discount, only when price is a real reason in your reviews, support tickets and surveys, and only for users who qualify. Apple lets you set a minimum paid duration and a wait time between offers, so nobody gets a discount every time they try to leave.

Apple adds one limit that shapes your copy: in App Store Connect, every subscriber to a plan sees the same message text. Write it for most of your leavers, and don’t mislead the rest.

What happens after they leave?

Cancelling is not always the end. Burner reported that over a quarter of the people who cancelled came back within a year. Returners made up about 10% of its monthly recurring revenue and over 30% of its new subscription revenue. Returning users also had twice the trial conversion of new users. These are figures Burner shared at the conference, for its own app.

So don’t show a returner the onboarding built for strangers. They already know what the app does. Show what is new, remind them what they left, and make coming back one tap.

How do you measure a cancel screen?

Use one definition and keep it fixed. Ours:

Save Rate = saved subscriptions ÷ started cancellations × 100%

Track it separately from repeat cancellations within 30 days. A save that cancels again two weeks later is not a save. RevenueCat’s guide suggests the same idea: look at whether saved subscribers stay set to renew and what revenue each one actually brings in.

We do not publish a typical Save Rate, because it depends on your product, your plan and your users. Measure your own.

A note on Black Friday

Black Friday is November 27. If you plan a deal, plan the cancel and return paths in the same week. Our guess, and it is a guess, not data: people who join on a deal are more likely to reconsider at the first renewal. A returner path is cheap to add before then. For context on who buys on Black Friday, RevenueCat’s analysis of 4,964 apps found that about half of the extra new payers had the app for three months or more.

What to do this week

1. Open your own app and cancel a subscription. Count the taps and note every place you hesitated.

2. Write one sentence: why do people stay? Use it as the first line of your cancel screen.

3. Pick one alternative to test first: Pause or Downgrade.

4. Define your Save Rate and a 30-day repeat-cancel rate before you change anything.

5. Add a returner path: a different first screen for someone coming back.

FAQ

Is it allowed to show offers when someone cancels?

On iOS, yes, through Apple’s retention messages. They are shown in the cancellation flow, can include text, images or an offer, and are configured in App Store Connect. Apple’s App Store Connect documentation covers the setup. Read the current App Review rules for your case.

Should I hide the Cancel button to reduce churn?

We would not. Hiding it makes the cancel path feel like a trap, and the users it keeps are the ones most likely to leave unhappy. Make it easy to find and spend the effort on the reason to stay.

What is a good Save Rate?

There is no honest universal number. Dipsea’s example above shows rates around 19–22% in one test, but that is one app and one audience. Track your own and compare changes against it.

For an example of redesigning a live app, see our work for Tenzio, a strength training app.

If your app is live and you are not sure where users drop off, our UX audit reviews the full flow, from first screen to cancel. Or book a free 30-minute Product Diagnosis and we will tell you where we would start.