How to Cancel McAfee

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Sign in to McAfee My Account

   Go to myaccount.mcafee.com and sign in with the email address that bought the subscription. Each McAfee account renews on its own, so if you might have bought McAfee under another email address, check that account too. This is the self-serve way to stop the charge: removing McAfee from your computer or phone leaves the subscription renewing.

2. 2

   Open Subscriptions and check the dates

   Select the Subscriptions tile ("See your subscriptions and manage your renewal preferences"). McAfee charges your card 30 days before a subscription's expiry date: its own example is a plan that expires on July 8 being billed on June 8. Its store terms say to cancel at least 31 days before expiration to avoid the charge. If the renewal has already been charged, carry on anyway so it doesn't happen next year, then see the refund step below.

3. 3

   Select Cancel next to the subscription

   Each subscription has its own card showing Protected Devices, Subscription, Contact Support and Payment History. Under Subscription, below the renewal date, select Cancel. McAfee says each active subscription renews on its own date, so if you see more than one (a Total Protection plan and a McAfee+ plan bought separately, for example), repeat these steps for each one you want to stop.

4. 4

   Skip the discount and select Cancel auto-renewal

   McAfee opens a "Before you go..." page. In the example on McAfee's own help article, the top of the page offers "a special 20% discount when you keep auto-renewal on", for the first year only and applied to the upcoming renewal, followed by a pitch for the Virus Protection Pledge, which needs auto-renewal on. Scroll down to "Still want to cancel auto-renewal?" and select Cancel auto-renewal, not Keep auto-renewal on. The subscription won't renew, and you keep your protection until the end of the term you've already paid for.

   Heads up: This is McAfee's retention offer. The discount comes off the regular renewal price, which on most plans is two to three times the first-year price new customers pay, so even a discounted renewal can cost more than you paid the first time. Take it only if you'd keep McAfee anyway. One member on r/mcafee describes also being offered a cheaper one- or two-year term when cancelling.

5. 5
   If this applies to you

   If you were just charged, ask for a refund by phone or chat

   Turning off auto-renewal never reverses a charge that has already gone through. McAfee's refund policy gives a full refund if you ask within 30 days of buying an annual subscription, or within 60 days of an automatic renewal charge (the most recent one). Its License Agreement puts it this way: "If you forget to turn off automatic renewal you have 60 days after you're charged to request a refund and cancel your subscription." Outside those windows McAfee gives nothing back, as it doesn't do prorated refunds, and monthly subscriptions aren't covered. There's no refund button in My Account: McAfee handles every refund through Customer Service, by chat or on 1-866-622-3911 (US, 24/7), both listed at mcafee.com/support. After a refund you must uninstall the product, and McAfee may disable the license. The policy doesn't apply to customers in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, British Columbia or Quebec, who have their own refund rules.

6. 6
   If this applies to you

   If you activated a product key from a store, or McAfee came on your new PC

   A McAfee card or download code from a retailer such as Best Buy is activated at mcafee.com/activate, and McAfee's activation article says signing up for Auto-Renewal with a valid form of payment is "required to activate all subscriptions". So when the term you bought at the store runs out, McAfee itself renews it on that card at its own renewal price, and you turn that off in My Account with the steps above. A refund of what you paid the store is a different matter: McAfee's money-back guarantee covers products bought from McAfee, "not a third party", and it asks retail-store buyers to contact Customer Service for refund details. Some new Windows PCs come with McAfee installed and a free trial; McAfee lists a device that "came with McAfee already installed" among the reasons for a charge you didn't expect, so sign in to My Account with the email you used during PC setup and check Subscriptions there.

7. 7
   If this applies to you

   If you bought McAfee on Amazon

   McAfee bought on Amazon, as a digital download or a mailed keycard, is managed from Amazon too: go to Your Orders, open View order details for the McAfee order, select Manage your subscription, and use the Memberships & Subscriptions section, which McAfee's Amazon article says is where you can cancel your subscription. McAfee also notes that Amazon lists digital McAfee products as non-refundable and non-returnable. Then sign in to myaccount.mcafee.com and check Subscriptions, and turn off auto-renewal there for anything McAfee bills you for directly.

8. 8
   If this applies to you

   If you subscribed in the McAfee Security app through Apple or Google

   A subscription bought inside the McAfee Security app on an iPhone, iPad or Android phone is billed by Apple or Google, and McAfee's auto-renewal article says to manage it with whoever bills you. On iPhone or iPad: Settings, your name, Subscriptions, McAfee Security, Cancel Subscription. On Android: Google Play Store, your profile icon, Payments & subscriptions, Subscriptions, McAfee Security, Cancel subscription. McAfee's refund policy excludes app-store purchases, so ask Apple or Google for any refund. One r/mcafee member cancelled a trial in Google Play and still found a McAfee+ subscription active on their McAfee account afterwards, so sign in to My Account and check Subscriptions as well.

9. 9
   If this applies to you

   Don't count on uninstalling or removing your card

   McAfee says it in its own articles: "Removing McAfee from your device does not stop your subscription," and uninstalling the Windows or Android app "does not automatically cancel your paid McAfee subscription." Members on r/mcafee describe renewal charges after uninstalling, in one case three years after removing McAfee from a laptop. Removing or replacing a card isn't a reliable stop either: McAfee's License Agreement lets it charge any other payment method on your account if the main one fails, and use updated card details it receives from your card issuer. Turn off auto-renewal in My Account first, and uninstall after the subscription has expired (or after a refund, when McAfee requires it). McAfee says renewal reminders keep coming until the software is removed.

10. 10
    If this applies to you

    Check any renewal email or phone call against My Account first

    Fake McAfee renewal invoices are a known scam. One member on r/Scams describes an email claiming an annual auto-renewal had been charged, with a number to call within 24 hours to cancel, and a caller who then wanted remote access to the computer. McAfee says that if a charge doesn't appear under Subscriptions and Payment History in My Account, "the message you received may be a scam", and that it will never call you to ask you to pay for customer service or ask for your password or bank sign-in details. Use only mcafee.com/support or 1-866-622-3911, and forward suspicious emails to scam@mcafee.com. McAfee's articles give a real charge's statement line as www.mcafee.com/charge or MCAFEE WWW.MCAFEE.COM.