User Guide
Your subscription watchdog — a short guide to getting the most out of SubForge. Last updated September 1, 2026 · Questions: support@subforge.ai
Contents
- What SubForge does
- Quick start
- Account & sign-in
- Free vs. Pro
- Currency
- Adding subscriptions
- Connecting a bank (Pro)
- Alerts & monitoring
- The Activity feed
- Insights & exports
- Managing Pro & restoring purchases
- Disconnecting a bank
- Deleting your account & data
- Privacy at a glance
- Getting help
1. What SubForge does
SubForge is your subscription watchdog. It keeps a clear list of everything you're subscribed to and tells you when something changes — a renewal is coming up, a free trial is about to convert, a price goes up, a possible duplicate appears, or a new recurring charge shows up. The goal is simple: fewer subscription surprises.
You can track subscriptions three ways:
- Add them by hand — fastest for the ones you already know about.
- Import a screenshot, PDF, or CSV — SubForge reads it and shows best-guess candidates for you to review.
- Connect a bank read-only (Pro) — recurring charges are detected for you and watched for changes.
2. Quick start
- Create your free account — sign in with Apple, Google, or email.
- Add a few subscriptions — tap + to add by hand, or import a screenshot.
- (Optional) Go Pro and connect a bank — let SubForge detect recurring charges automatically and watch them for changes.
That's enough to start getting renewal and trial reminders right away.
3. Account & sign-in
SubForge needs a free account so your subscriptions can be synced, backed up, and monitored across your devices. Sign in with Apple, Google, or email.
If you sign up with email, you'll confirm your address with a quick verification email before you can connect a bank. Signing in with Apple is the fastest path — it arrives already verified.
4. Free vs. Pro
| Feature | Free | SubForge Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Tracked subscriptions | Up to 5 | Unlimited |
| Renewal & trial reminders | ✅ | ✅ |
| Read-only bank detection (Plaid) | — | ✅ |
| Multi-bank monitoring (up to 3) | — | ✅ |
| Price-hike history & deeper insights | — | ✅ |
| CSV & renewal-calendar exports | — | ✅ |
Pricing: $9.99/month or $79.99/year (Best Value — save ~33%). A 7-day free trial is planned at launch, where eligible. Prices are shown in your local App Store currency.
Pro is an in-app subscription billed by the App Store. It auto-renews until you cancel, and you can manage or cancel anytime in your App Store settings.
5. Currency
SubForge is launching in the United States and tracks amounts in US Dollars (USD). There is no currency setting to choose, and SubForge never converts between currencies — enter each subscription in the amount you're actually billed.
Other currencies. If a record was saved with a different currency code, SubForge keeps its label as-is but leaves it out of your USD totals so nothing is silently mixed together.
Your SubForge Pro subscription itself is always billed by the App Store in your local App Store currency.
6. Adding subscriptions
By hand
Tap +, search the 100+ service catalog (ChatGPT, Claude, Netflix, and more) or enter your own, set the price, billing cycle, and renewal date, and save.
From a screenshot, PDF, or CSV
Import an iPhone Settings → Subscriptions screenshot, a bank/card statement screenshot, or a PDF/CSV export. SubForge reads it and shows best-guess candidates — you review and tick only the ones you recognize as real subscriptions before anything is added.
Best guesses, not certainties. A raw bank or card screenshot can include one-off purchases (a coffee, a store run). SubForge filters out the obvious transaction rows, but a stray purchase can still appear — so leave anything you don't recognize unticked. For accurate, automatic detection of recurring bank charges, connecting a bank (Pro) is the most reliable path.
Your screenshots stay private. Imported text is read on your device — the file never leaves your phone, and nothing is added until you review and approve it. Only a subscription you choose to add is saved.
7. Connecting a bank (Pro)
With Pro you can connect a bank to detect recurring charges automatically. The connection is read-only and runs through Plaid, a third-party bank-connection provider. Once connected, SubForge watches your recurring charges for price hikes, new charges, and possible duplicates.
- You sign in with your bank inside Plaid's secure screen — SubForge never receives your bank username, password, or full account numbers.
- SubForge cannot move money; it only reads recurring-charge information to suggest subscriptions and flag changes.
- You can connect up to 3 banks, and manage or disconnect each one anytime in Settings.
Detected charges arrive as suggestions to review — accept the ones that are real subscriptions, dismiss the rest. Nothing is added to your list automatically.
If a bank needs attention — for example it asks you to sign in again, or a new account becomes available — SubForge shows a reconnect or new-account prompt so your monitoring stays current.
8. Alerts & monitoring
SubForge watches for the changes that matter and notifies you:
| Alert | What it tells you | Available on |
|---|---|---|
| Renewal reminders | A charge is coming up | Free & Pro |
| Trial Guard | A free trial is about to convert — 7, 3, and 1 day ahead, when we have the trial date | Free & Pro |
| Price-change alerts | A recurring charge went up (or down), with the difference | Pro (connected bank) |
| New recurring charges | A new recurring charge appeared on a connected bank | Pro (connected bank) |
| Possible duplicates | The same service looks like it's billing more than once | Pro (connected bank) |
| Stopped charges | A recurring charge quietly goes silent — canceled, or a card change? | Pro (connected bank) |
| Bank attention | A bank needs reconnecting, or a new account is available | Pro (connected bank) |
Renewal and trial reminders work on Free; bank-powered alerts come with a connected bank (Pro).
Allow notifications. SubForge asks for notification permission on the "Turn on alerts" screen when you first sign in. Skipped it? Turn notifications on anytime in iOS Settings → SubForge → Notifications — a watchdog can only warn you if it's allowed to notify.
9. The Activity feed
The Home Activity feed shows your recent changes and alerts — the newest 100 events. Opening Home marks new events as read (clearing the unread dot).
There's no manual "clear" button: events stay as your history. They're removed only when you disconnect a bank (its related items are cleaned up) or delete your account.
10. Insights & exports
On Free and Pro:
- Spend by category and at-a-glance monthly and yearly totals — including a dedicated view of your AI tools.
With Pro:
- Overlap detection, a switch-to-annual savings finder, and spending rankings.
- Export your subscriptions to CSV or a renewal calendar (.ics).
These figures are estimates to help you decide. SubForge provides information, not financial advice.
11. Managing Pro & restoring purchases
SubForge Pro is billed by the App Store — manage or cancel anytime in your App Store settings.
Already bought Pro on another device, or reinstalled the app? Open the paywall and tap Restore Purchases to re-activate Pro on this device. (Terms and Privacy links are on the paywall too.)
When Pro ends
If Pro lapses, bank monitoring pauses. You have a 3-day grace window to resubscribe and keep your bank connections; after that, connected banks are disconnected (SubForge asks Plaid to revoke its read-only access) and unreviewed detections are cleared. Subscriptions you added always stay — your list, reminders, and history continue on Free.
12. Disconnecting a bank
Go to Settings, find the bank, and tap to disconnect. This asks Plaid to revoke SubForge's read-only access and removes that bank's connection data and its bank-derived suggestions from your account. If the revocation can't be confirmed, SubForge records the failure for investigation — email support@subforge.ai to check its status.
Subscriptions you already added stay in your list — disconnecting a bank never deletes the subscriptions you chose to track.
13. Deleting your account & data
- In the app: Settings → Danger zone → Delete account deletes your sign-in account and starts a background cleanup that removes your subscriptions, activity, and bank connection data from our servers and asks Plaid to revoke any connected banks. It normally finishes shortly after. Settings → Erase all subscriptions clears your subscription records without deleting the account.
- What it doesn't do: deleting your account does not cancel a SubForge Pro subscription — cancel that in your App Store settings. Apple and RevenueCat keep their own purchase records, and our providers may hold data for a limited time under their own retention schedules. See the Privacy Policy for the full picture.
- By email: write to support@subforge.ai and we'll complete a deletion request within 30 days.
You can also request a copy of your data at the same address — see the Privacy Policy for details.
14. Privacy at a glance
- An account is required to sync, back up, and monitor your subscriptions.
- Bank connections are read-only through Plaid — your credentials never touch SubForge, and SubForge cannot move money.
- When you connect a bank, SubForge does receive recurring-charge data (merchant, amount, dates) to power detection — never your credentials or full account numbers.
- Imported screenshots and files are read on your device and are not uploaded or stored.
- No ads, no cross-app tracking. We never sell your data.
Full details: Privacy Policy · Terms of Service
15. Getting help
Support: support@subforge.ai · subforge.ai/support