How to Cancel a Carly Subscription on iPhone, Android or the Web

Your bank app shows a charge from Carly for about 104 euros. You bought the BMW licence a year ago to switch off one setting and read a warning light, and you have barely opened the app since. The dongle is still in the glovebox. Now you want to stop the next renewal and maybe get this one back. You also want to know whether that little adapter is now scrap.

Where did you buy your Carly licence?

Everything depends on this one fact. Carly sells the same licence through three channels. Each one has its own cancel button and its own deadline, and the refund rules differ too.

One quick clue: if the adapter came in the box with your licence, you almost certainly bought on the web. Carly says its Premium package (licence plus a free adapter) is sold only on its own website, not in the app stores.

Can't find any receipt? Search your email for "Carly", "receipt from Apple" or "Google Play order". The sender tells you the channel.

How do you cancel Carly on an iPhone?

A licence bought inside the iPhone app is an Apple subscription. Carly states in its help centre that it cannot cancel these for you, so do it yourself:

1. Open Settings and tap your name at the top.
2. Tap Subscriptions.
3. Tap Carly.
4. Tap Cancel Subscription. You may need to scroll down to see it.

On a Mac, the same button sits in the App Store under your name and Subscriptions. You can also cancel on the web at account.apple.com. Carly's App Store listing says the licence renews for a year unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the current period ends, so do not leave it to the last evening.

Deleting the Carly app does not stop the renewal. Deleting your Carly account does not stop it either; Carly says so in its own help centre.

How do you cancel Carly on Android?

A licence bought in the Android app runs through Google Play:

1. Open the Play Store app.
2. Tap your profile picture in the top corner.
3. Tap Payments and subscriptions, then Subscriptions.
4. Tap Carly, then Cancel subscription. Follow the prompts to confirm.

Google is clear on two points. Uninstalling the app does not cancel the subscription. And after you cancel, you keep using the licence for the time you already paid for. The same 24-hour cut-off before the renewal date applies, per Carly's Google Play listing.

How do you cancel a licence bought on mycarly.com?

This is the channel where most of the confusion starts, and where the notice period is longest.

In Germany, Carly's help centre sends you to a cancellation page on its own site. It is linked in the footer of the German site as "Verträge hier kündigen". You enter the invoice number from the Carly invoice email and get an automatic confirmation. In other countries, Carly asks you to send the invoice through its contact form with the note "App Cancel Automatic Renewal", at least one month before the renewal date. Carly then confirms the cancellation.

What the terms say: Carly's German terms state that a yearly licence runs for at least one year. It then renews by another year unless you cancel at least one month before the year ends. A monthly licence type needs one week's notice. You may cancel in writing or in text form, for example through the contact form.

No invoice number? The terms do not require one. Send a short, clear cancellation through the contact form from the email address you ordered with. Name the car brand and, if you know it, the renewal date. Keep the confirmation email or take a screenshot. Carly's own blog suggests setting a calendar reminder 30 days before the renewal date, which lines up with the one-month rule.

What happens after you cancel Carly?

Cancelling stops the next renewal. It does not end the licence early. Carly's blog and Google's help pages both say you keep the paid features until the end of the period you already paid for.

When that period ends, the Carly app drops back to its free basic package. Carly's App Store and Google Play listings describe that as basic diagnostics, live data and an emissions check for the two main systems, the engine and the gearbox. The features that need the licence switch off:

• Fault codes from the other control units, such as the ABS or airbag units
• Coding and hidden features
• Service resets and maintenance guides
• The battery check and the used-car and mileage check
• Repair guides (Smart Mechanic is a separate paid add-on)

The adapter is yours to keep. Carly calls it "free" with the Premium package, and it stays with you after the licence ends. Carly also advertises a lifetime warranty on it. A new licence switches the premium features back on with the same dongle.

A lapsed Carly licence still leaves you a working adapter, and Skanyx can put it to use. Plug the same dongle in and the app reads the engine codes and explains them in plain English. It puts a green-to-red severity on each one so you know whether to keep driving, with a rough repair cost in your currency. See what your Carly adapter can still read

Can you use the Carly adapter with another app?

For the standard OBD2 functions, yes. The Carly Universal Scanner talks to the car over the same standard OBD2 protocols every generic adapter uses. It does not need a Carly licence to do that.

We can show this with real data. Skanyx, the app this site belongs to, logs which adapter each car connects through. Between mid-August and late September 2026, 22 different Carly adapters connected to it. On every one of those sessions, the app found the car's protocol, from the modern CAN standard to the older KWP and ISO 9141 ones. Other generic apps may pair too, but that is the only app we hold connection data for.

What the Carly dongle gives a generic app like that:

• Read and clear the engine fault codes, with the code's meaning
• Show the standard live data, such as engine speed or coolant temperature
• Read the car's VIN

What it cannot do, with this dongle or any other generic adapter: coding, reading the ABS or airbag modules, service resets, mileage stored in other modules, or Carly's own Smart Mechanic. Those stay inside the Carly app. For what the live readings actually mean, see OBD2 live data explained.

If your Carly use was mostly "a light came on, what is it?", that part carries on without a licence. You can try it on the dongle you already own before deciding anything else.

Can you get a refund from Carly?

Sometimes, and again it depends on where you paid.

Web licence: Carly says a licence bought on its website cannot be returned. At checkout, buyers tick a box agreeing that the licence starts at once, and under EU rules that ends the 14-day right of withdrawal for digital content. The Premium package licence is not refundable either, even though the adapter came with it. Basic package (adapter only): this one can go back. Carly gives a full refund if you return the scanner within 14 days of delivery. You pay the return postage. App Store: Carly cannot refund Apple purchases. Ask Apple instead at reportaproblem.apple.com. Sign in there and choose "Request a refund". Then pick the Carly subscription and give a reason. Apple says to expect an answer within 24 to 48 hours. Google Play: within 48 hours of the charge, you can ask for a refund in Google Play's order history under "Report a problem". After 48 hours, Google points you to the developer, and Carly says refunds for Play purchases go through Google.

A charge you did not expect? Stopping the card or PayPal payment does not end the contract by itself. Cancel the licence through the right channel first, then ask about the money.

Is Carly a subscription trap?

The worry is common in German searches ("Carly Abo-Falle"), so the facts matter here.

Carly does publish the renewal. Its terms say the licence renews by a year unless cancelled in time. The checkout carries a note that the minimum term is one year and renews automatically. And both app store listings say it is a yearly subscription that renews unless cancelled 24 hours ahead. In its replies to App Store reviews, Carly also says it does not refuse cancellations and that a licence can be cancelled at any time.

Where buyers get caught out is the box. The adapter arrives "free" with the licence, so many people think they bought a gadget, not a subscription.

The practical fix is simple. If you only want one year, cancel on the day you buy. The licence still runs to the end of the year you paid for.

How much does Carly cost a year?

Carly prices by car brand, and the adapter is included with every Premium licence, so the first year costs the licence price and nothing more.

Over five years, one brand adds up to about 325 to 520 euros; BMW alone is about 520. The full breakdown sits in our Carly app review.

Should you cancel Carly or keep it?

Keep the licence if you use what only it does:

• You code your car, or plan to, on a BMW or Mercedes
• You need fault codes from the ABS, airbag or other modules
• You do your own service resets
• You run several brands and like having one app for all of them

Cancel if your real use is the engine light and the odd live reading. That part works on the adapter you already own, with or without Carly.

If you want coding without a yearly fee, BMW owners have a one-time route; Carly alternatives without a subscription compares them. For a VW, Audi, Skoda or Seat, start with Carly vs OBDeleven. After that, check whether OBDeleven is worth it or pick from the OBDeleven options without a subscription. New to all of this? What is OBD2 explains what a plug-in adapter can and cannot see, and the Carly adapter compatibility page lists what it does in other apps.

Find the receipt, cancel in that channel today, and keep the confirmation. Then leave the dongle in the glovebox: the next time a light comes on, it still reads the code.