How long does it take for a pending charge to clear?

Question

Level 1

0 points

How long does it take for a pending charge to clear?

I subscribed for a free trial but wasn’t given that trial and I cancelled the subscription within 10 minutes of trying to get the free trial. An attempt to charge my account was made a few hours later but failed due to insufficient funds. My account now says there is a pending charge, I am unable to download any apps, even free ones, and unable to pay other subscription bills.

I will not be paying this bill as I didn’t sign up for the subscription and it is a large amount of money to pay with no definitive guarantee that I would be refunded the amount anyway. How long will the charge be pending until it gets dropped by the system and the subscription revoked?

Apple support and the company that owns the app have both been useless thus far. It has been 5 days already.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: When will a pending payemnt be dropped?

iPhone 16 Pro Max, iOS 18

Posted on Jul 4, 2025 4:53 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Mac Jim ID

Level 9

60,158 points

Jul 4, 2025 5:38 PM in response to Unicorn-poop

Free Trials can only be used once, so if you previously used a free trial, you will see it not show on the authorization screen where you have to double click the side button. The only thing that will appear there is the subscription start date, which would be that same day, and the subscription price. If that was unable to be processed you won't be able to use the app store further until it is paid. The pending charge will remain until there are funds to process it.

What is the name of the app?
Have you reviewed your purchase history to see if there was already a free trial used under your account? You can search by name. but you would want to remove the filter so it is not just showing the past 90 days for Paid apps.

View your purchase history for the App Store and other Apple media services - Apple Support

Reply

Answer 2

muguy

Level 10

91,172 points

Jul 4, 2025 5:03 PM in response to Unicorn-poop

You’re being billed for a subscription that you purchased. Until you pay, you will not have access to the App Store.

Reply