Google Play Cancel Reasons: Why Subscribers Cancel

When a customer turns auto-renew off on Google Play, RevenueDot records a cancellation event at that time. Google's cancel survey answer (cancelSurveyResult.reason) is stored on the subscription, and RevenueDot looks it up for each cancellation. Answers outside Google's list are counted as Other, and a missing answer is No answer. A total Cancellations measure sits next to the reasons.

The chart counts cancellations, not expirations. A subscription cancelled on the 3rd that expires on the 20th appears on the 3rd. The answer is stored once per customer and product, so a customer who cancels twice for the same product has both cancellations shown with the latest answer.

Filters and segments: app, product, product duration, country and platform. This is a RevenueDot chart name, because RevenueCat shows the same view only in its dashboard and does not expose it in its API. You can open it in the dashboard under Charts or fetch it with GET /v2/projects/{project_id}/charts/play_store_cancel_reasons. The response has the same shape as RevenueCat's Charts API, so scripts written for that API keep working. The secret key needs the charts_metrics:charts:read permission. The Charts guide lists every parameter.

Cancel reasons turn churn from a number into a to-do list. Cost related points at price or plan design, for example a cheaper plan or an introductory offer. Not enough usage points at onboarding and engagement. Technical issues point at bugs and a release to fix. Found a better app points at your competitors and feature gaps.

Segment by product duration and country to see if annual subscribers cancel for different reasons than monthly ones, or if price is a problem in particular markets.

How to read it

• Many customers skip the survey. Watch the size of No answer before you trust the split of the others.
• The survey is Google's. It only covers customers who cancel inside Google Play and answer the question.
• Use it with Churn. A rising churn rate with a rising technical issues bar is a bug, not a pricing problem.
• Compare the mix before and after a price change or a release.
• Only Google Play subscriptions appear. For iOS use Customer Center survey answers.