Upgrading to YouTube Premium Family should be a straightforward process, right? I thought so too. Today, I decided to upgrade my individual YouTube Premium subscription to the family plan. The initial upgrade seemed smooth; I was charged a prorated amount of $2.38, which seemed correct for the immediate upgrade. However, what followed has left me scratching my head and wondering if I now have two subscriptions running simultaneously.
Shortly after the upgrade, I received an email from Apple. It stated that their systems detected potentially multiple subscriptions for the same YouTube service and suggested I could save money by canceling one. This immediately raised a red flag. To investigate, I went to my Apple Subscriptions on my MacBook, where I had initiated the upgrade. To my surprise, it listed two active YouTube subscriptions: both YouTube Premium and YouTube Premium Family.
Screenshot of Apple Subscriptions on Mac showing both YouTube Premium and YouTube Premium Family listed, indicating a potential duplicate subscription issue after upgrading to the family plan.
Naturally, my first instinct was to cancel the older, non-family YouTube Premium subscription to avoid duplicate charges. Clicking “Cancel Membership” for the non-family option on my Mac, I was met with a peculiar message. It instructed me to manage this subscription through my iPhone.
Screenshot of a system message on Mac prompting the user to manage their YouTube Premium subscription cancellation via their iPhone, despite attempting to cancel on the Mac.
Following the prompt, I navigated to my subscriptions on my iPhone. Here’s where it gets even more confusing. My iPhone only showed a single, active “YouTube Premium” subscription. Notably absent was any mention of the YouTube Premium Family subscription I had just upgraded to.
Screenshot of iPhone Subscriptions displaying only the standard YouTube Premium subscription, and not showing the newly upgraded YouTube Premium Family plan, contrasting with the Mac subscription view.
Intrigued, I tapped on the “YouTube Premium” listing on my iPhone. This led me to a page correctly indicating that I did not have an active individual YouTube Premium subscription and offered the option to renew it. Again, no sign of the active YouTube Premium Family subscription that my Mac clearly displays.
In Summary:
My Mac indicates that I am currently subscribed to both YouTube Premium and YouTube Premium Family. Attempting to cancel the individual YouTube Premium subscription on my Mac redirects me to my iPhone. However, my iPhone only displays the canceled individual YouTube Premium and fails to show the active YouTube Premium Family subscription.
This leaves me with several questions: Do I actually have two active subscriptions, or is this an Apple system error? Was the email about potential duplicate subscriptions a generic, inaccurate warning? Is there a delay in synchronization between Apple’s subscription services across devices, specifically between my Mac and iPhone? It has been approximately two hours since I upgraded to YouTube Premium Family on my Mac.
I’m hoping someone in the community might have experienced a similar situation or have insights into whether this is a temporary display issue or a genuine concern about being double-charged. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and I’d prefer to avoid generic help page links if possible.
