When a payment didn't go through

Payment didn't go through means a renewal payment for your subscription failed. Your licence has not been removed, and Storage Studio keeps working while you sort it out. Choose Fix Payment to pay what's owed — you can use a different card — and every notice clears by itself once the payment lands.

What you'll see

• A red bell. The notifications bell turns red and shows Payment didn't go through with a Fix Payment button. It opens by itself when you open Storage Studio. Unlike other notices it has no close button and stays through Mark all read — it clears itself once the payment is sorted.
• A red headline on Home. The Home screen's headline becomes Payment didn't go through, with the explanation underneath and a red Fix Payment button. Your usual storage summary comes back as soon as it's paid.
• A banner at the top of the menu-bar popover and the main window, with Check again and Fix Payment.
• The licence card at the bottom of the popover shows Fix Payment above Billing & invoices.
• You may also get occasional Mac notifications and emails about it. Each one leads to the same payment page.

The message also tells you when the payment will next be tried automatically, for example: "Your last payment didn't go through. Storage Studio keeps working — fix your payment to keep your subscription going. We'll try again on 6 Oct."

Likely causes

Storage Studio is told only that the payment failed, not why. The usual reasons are on the card side:

• the card on file has expired or been replaced;
• your bank declined or held the charge;
• the card couldn't cover the amount on the renewal date.

How to fix it

1. Choose Fix Payment. A secure payment page opens in your browser, showing what's owed. Pay there, with the same card or a different one.
2. Leave Storage Studio open. It checks again a few times over the next ten minutes or so, and every notice disappears once the payment is confirmed.
3. Paid from an email or your phone instead? While a payment notice is showing, Storage Studio checks again about every 15 minutes, and straight away when you switch back to it. To check right away, choose Check again on the banner, I've paid — check again on Home, or Refresh status in Settings → License.

The payment is also retried automatically, so a card that was only temporarily declined may go through on its own. Updating your card on your billing page means the next automatic try uses the new card; Fix Payment pays straight away.

If the button can't open the page, you'll see: "We couldn't open your billing page just now. Try again in a minute, or reply to any of our payment emails and we'll send you a payment link."

%% caption: What happens after a renewal payment fails
flowchart TD
  A[Renewal payment fails] --> B[Red bell, red Home headline, Fix Payment]
  B --> C{Paid with Fix Payment?}
  C -->|Yes| D[Notices clear by themselves, nothing else changes]
  C -->|Not yet| E[Everything keeps working, the payment is retried]
  E --> F[If it stays unpaid, the notice shows any change and its date in advance]
  F --> G[Your moved files keep working, and moving things back is always allowed]

Emails about a payment

We may email you about a payment that didn't go through. Each email has a button that opens a page listing everything that's waiting to be paid, each with its own Pay button, plus Use a different card from now on. Links in these emails stop working after a while; if one says This link has expired, use the latest email or Fix Payment in the app.

You can stop the reminder emails with the unsubscribe link in them. We'll still email you before anything changes on your account.

What keeps working meanwhile

At first, everything. The notice tells you if anything is going to change, and on which date, before it happens. If the payment stays unpaid, the notice can change to Storage Studio is paused: new moves, offloads, Smart Care runs and scheduled transfers wait, but everything you've already moved keeps working and you can still move things back. Pay, and it all resumes.

Delta storage follows its own, stricter steps because it takes up space every day. If a Delta payment stays unpaid, your Delta storage first becomes read-only — you can still download and restore — and the notice tells you the date it would lock, and later the date it would be deleted. Paying before then restores everything. While your Delta storage is waiting for payment, Storage Studio itself isn't paused, because it is how you download and restore those files.

If the payment is processing instead

A blue Payment processing note, with no Fix Payment button, means the payment is on its way and just hasn't cleared yet — see Payment processing. Don't pay again.

If your licence has already ended

If you see Payment needed instead, the subscription has stopped — see Payment needed.

See also: How recurring payments work, Billing & invoices, The Learning Center and notifications.