We went through the App Store reviews that people wrote in the six months to mid-November 2026 about 43 subscription services in 19 countries. There are 26,598 of them in total. We looked only at the negative ones, one to three stars, and counted what people complain about.
The short answer
Ads. Reviews with this complaint: 1,745, or 6.6% of all. Every other complaint put together (renewal, refunds, price, free trials and cancellation): 586.
Ads, despite paying
- Prime Video — 39.9% (333 of 834)
- HBO Max — 27.0% (303 of 1,121)
- YouTube — 20.8% (372 of 1,787)
- Disney+ — 14.7% (136 of 928)
- YAZIO — 10.7% (106 of 994)
- Spotify — 9.7% (185 of 1,900)
The same thought keeps returning in the reviews: I pay and still see ads. Most often that means the cheapest plan, where ads are part of the deal. For YouTube and Spotify, some of the complaints come from people on the free version. Before canceling, it is worth checking whether a higher plan of the same service runs without ads. The three services that have no free version (HBO Max, Disney+ and Netflix) account for 505 of these reviews on their own.
Ad complaints by country
Share of ad complaints among all reviews in each country’s App Store:
| Country | Share | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Italy | 10.5% | 205 of 1,948 |
| Austria | 8.4% | 94 of 1,123 |
| France | 8.3% | 210 of 2,541 |
| Romania | 8.2% | 76 of 924 |
| Germany | 8.2% | 225 of 2,752 |
| Denmark | 7.7% | 82 of 1,068 |
| Latvia | 7.4% | 30 of 408 |
| Estonia | 7.3% | 28 of 382 |
| Spain | 6.8% | 130 of 1,899 |
| Norway | 6.7% | 71 of 1,060 |
| Lithuania | 6.4% | 32 of 500 |
| Switzerland | 6.1% | 91 of 1,499 |
| Hungary | 5.7% | 52 of 920 |
| Finland | 5.6% | 45 of 808 |
| Sweden | 5.4% | 71 of 1,314 |
| Poland | 4.6% | 69 of 1,504 |
| United States | 4.2% | 139 of 3,312 |
| Czechia | 3.7% | 34 of 929 |
| Netherlands | 3.6% | 61 of 1,707 |
United States: rank 17 of 19.
Automatic renewal
Reviews: 137 (0.5%), and here different services lead:
- Norton — 4.8% (11 of 230)
- NordVPN — 2.1% (14 of 676)
- WHOOP — 2.0% (7 of 348)
- Babbel — 2.0% (10 of 509)
- YAZIO — 1.6% (16 of 994)
The typical case is an annual plan that renewed without a clear warning, often at a higher price than in the first year. What each provider’s terms allow in that case is written next to every review on this site: some refund a renewal, others only the first purchase.
Whether you can still get your money back after an automatic renewal depends on the provider’s own terms:
| Service | Refund after renewal | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Norton | Yes | 60 days after an annual renewal; on a monthly plan only the first payment |
| McAfee | Yes | 60 days after the renewal |
| Avast | Yes | 30 days from the payment |
| NordVPN | No | First purchase only; in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK also 30 days after a renewal |
| Surfshark | No | The 30-day guarantee covers only the first purchase |
| Proton VPN | No | The 30-day guarantee covers only the first purchase |
| PIA | No | The 30-day guarantee covers only the first purchase |
| ExpressVPN | No | The 30-day guarantee is for first-time buyers only |
| Bitdefender | Not stated by the provider | 30-day refund; renewals are not mentioned separately |
Avast charges up to 35 days before the subscription anniversary, McAfee 30 days before the subscription ends and NordVPN 14 days before a new period on plans longer than a month, so the money can leave your account earlier than you expect. We checked the terms on the providers’ own pages in September and November 2026. If you paid through the App Store, you ask Apple for the refund.
Refunds
Reviews: 153 (0.6%). They come up most among users of these services:
- Coursera — 4.6% (6 of 131)
- Surfshark — 2.4% (10 of 416)
- Norton — 2.2% (5 of 230)
- NordVPN — 1.5% (10 of 676)
Free trials
Reviews: 81 (0.3%). A common complaint is a charge that came unexpectedly.
- Headspace — 8.0% (13 of 163)
- Dropbox — 2.5% (5 of 198)
- Strava — 1.5% (9 of 588)
- Duolingo — 0.6% (12 of 1,877)
“I can’t cancel”
Reviews: 66 (0.2%):
Price
Reviews: 149 (0.6%), fewer than we expected:
- WHOOP — 2.0% (7 of 348)
- YouTube Music — 1.7% (8 of 461)
- Tidal — 1.6% (10 of 609)
- Netflix — 1.3% (19 of 1,515)
- Spotify — 1.2% (22 of 1,900)
How we counted
- The source is public App Store reviews in 19 country stores: up to the 100 most recent for each service in each country.
- We counted a review as a complaint when it had one to three stars and contained a topic word in one of 17 languages.
- One review can fall under several topics.
- We checked a random sample: of 30 matches for ads, 27 were real complaints about ads. So the figures are approximate, while the order between services is reliable.
- The lists show only services for which we found at least five such reviews.
We will repeat the study every six months at this same address.
FAQ
Related articles
Our own count from public App Store reviews (2026-05-16…2026-11-13): 43 services, 19 countries, 26,598 reviews. The method and its limits are described at the end of the article.
This article is based on our own checks as of the date shown. Prices and terms change — the provider’s official website always has the final word.