It depends on how you paid. If you subscribed through the Apple App Store or Google Play, you have to stop the subscription through Apple or Google. If you do not, you keep being charged, whatever your account looks like inside the EliteSingles app. If you pay by credit card, EliteSingles automatically cancels the subscription when you remove your account.

First, find out how you pay

Look at where the money leaves. A charge through the Apple App Store or Google Play means the store controls the subscription. A charge by card, check card or PayPal means EliteSingles does.

Check your bank or card statement if you are not sure. A charge from EliteSingles by card, check card or PayPal appears as CCBill.com *SuccessMatch. Knowing the wording stops you from missing it in a long list of charges.

Cancel on an iPhone, an iPad or Google Play

On an iPhone or iPad, open Settings and tap your name. Tap Subscriptions, tap the EliteSingles subscription, then tap Cancel Subscription. Scroll down if you cannot see the button at first.

If there is no Cancel button, or you see a red expiration message in the subscription screen, the subscription is already canceled. You do not need to do anything else.

When you pay through Google Play, you must stop the subscription through Google. Deleting the app or your EliteSingles account does not do it. Find the EliteSingles subscription in your Google Play account and cancel it there. Check that it shows as canceled before you close the screen.

If you pay by card

EliteSingles says that if you pay by credit card, it automatically cancels the subscription when you remove your account.

That is easier, but removing your account is a bigger step than stopping payment. Make sure you are ready to lose your page and your conversations. If you only want to stop paying and keep the account, contact support and ask how to do that.

The step that catches men out

Canceling inside the EliteSingles app is not enough when a store handles the billing. The store keeps its own record of the subscription. Until you cancel there, the charge continues, even if your account in the app has been removed.

Make this the last thing you check. After you cancel, open the store's subscription list and confirm the entry is gone or marked as canceled. Do it again a few days later if you want to be sure.

Look up your renewal date as well, and cancel at least a day or two before it. A subscription that renews on its own is easy to forget. Set a reminder on your phone the day you subscribe so the date does not sneak up on you.

A strange extra charge

Billing questions are where most of the stress comes from, so it helps to know what is normal. EliteSingles says that for billing problems you should contact support. It also says an extra pending transaction at renewal is usually an authorization attempt that cancels once the real charge goes through.

So one pending line next to the real one is not automatically a double charge. Wait a few days and see whether it drops. If a second charge fully clears, take screenshots and write to support with the dates and amounts.

Decide before you cancel

a dating coach's rule for any paid feature is to treat it as a test. Pay for a short stretch, count your replies and dates, and drop it if nothing changes. Canceling early is part of that rule, not a failure.

Before you cancel, look at what the site gave you. If you had conversations but no dates, the issue may be how fast you suggest meeting. If nobody replied, check your photos and your written answers. Then decide whether to cancel and try something else, or fix those first and give it a little longer.

Finish any conversation you care about before you go. Send a short note to a woman you were talking with, or swap a phone number if the chat is going well. A site you pay for is only useful while the conversations are on it, so move the good ones off before you leave.