Best answer: All the games and apps that you've downloaded as part of the Play Pass will revert to their paid or ad-supported status after the term of your subscription has ended. Google will preserve your save data and give you an opportunity to pay the one-time purchase price to retain each paid app, which allows you to keep the games you love. Meanwhile, free apps will remain available, although you will start to see ads and in-app purchases.
- Subscribe for games and apps: Google Play Pass ($5/month at Google Play Store)
- Load up your Google Play account: Google Play Gift Card (From $25 at Amazon)
What happens if you cancel your Play Pass subscription?
With a growing library of over 350 premium mobile games and apps, Play Pass has the ability to offer a great entertainment value for families at just $5 a month. Well, what happens to the apps and games you've downloaded if you decide to cancel your subscription? The short answer is that any app or game you've downloaded will be accessible to you until your subscription officially expires. From that point on, any apps that are free to download from the Play Store will remain accessible with ads where applicable and any in-app items or premium upgrades will re-appear and be available for individual purchase.
Google gives you a grace period to pay for premium apps and retain your game save data after canceling Play Pass.
In the case of paid games, Google will keep your save data around just in case you buy the game through the Play Store the old-fashioned way with a one-time payment. Otherwise, you'll be unable to play or access premium games or apps that you downloaded as part of your Play Pass subscription.
So, in the case that you get tired of another monthly subscription, but still want to play Mini Metro during your daily commute, you can pay for the game outright and keep all the progress you made playing the Play Pass version of the game.
It's also worth noting that even if you uninstall all the Play Pass apps and games from your phone, that does not cancel or pause your subscription. You will still be charged a monthly fee until you go into settings and cancel your subscription. So just because you've stopped using Play Pass apps and games does not change anything with your Play Pass subscription and you should expect an automatic renewal at the end of the month.
What happens if an app developer pulls their app from Play Pass?
In the case where an app developer has decided to remove their apps or game from the Play Pass subscription service, similar rules apply.
Google says that free apps and games will remain accessible but you will start to see ads again and be asked to pay for in-app items. For paid apps and games, you can continue to use them for some time before you have to buy the app outside of your Play Pass subscription. "Some time" is about as specific as Google is willing to go here, so we imagine that the terms of how long Play Pass subscribers are able to access an app after it has left the Play Pass library is determined on a case by case basis.
Subscribe to a growing selection of games and apps
If you're ready to jump into Google Play Pass you can sign up and enjoy a free two-week trial in the Google Play Store.
A great way to ensure you don't forget about an on-going subscription
You can use Google Play gift cards to load up your account with credits to put towards your Play Pass so that your credit card isn't tied to the automatically renewing subscription.
