Apple Wallet's Movie Ads Are Frustrating Users: Here's How to Stop Them

Apple is gearing up for the theatrical release of its F1 movie, and it is doing everything it can to promote the film. In the process, however, it has left many iPhone users annoyed. 

Some Apple Wallet users started receiving push notifications for F1 tickets and also spotted an ad inside the Wallet app. Both the notification and the ad are promoting a limited-time offer valid for bookings of two or more tickets.

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While many shopping and food delivery apps send marketing notifications with user permission, seeing such ads from an Apple app that stores credit cards, IDs, and movie tickets is odd.

"Who approved this? ads from my wallet app? Oh hell no," writes one X user. "I really need some understanding on why Apple would think it appropriate to push an a Fandango ad through the wallet app? On what level would they think that's a good idea? This is a complete violation of privacy," reads a post on Reddit.

While expressing their disappointment, many have even referenced Apple's push notification guidelines for developers. A block in it says the following: "Push Notifications should not be used for promotions or direct marketing purposes unless customers have explicitly opted in to receive them via consent language displayed in your app's UI, and you provide a method in your app for a user to opt out from receiving such messages."

Ad permission requests typically appear immediately after launching the app for the first time. As of writing, we're not sure if all users who received the Wallet ad had signed up for it. The good news, however, is that everyone can disable it. Open the Wallet app, tap the three-dot menu at the top right > Settings > Turn off Offers & Promotions. You can also access this page by navigating to the Settings app > Apple Wallet & Pay.

Apple has been promoting its big-budget F1 movie extensively, to the point that the recent WWDC keynote opened with software chief Craig Federighi driving an F1 car. It was followed by a haptic trailer in the Apple TV app on iOS. 

While the F1 Wallet ad has received a negative response, the film itself has opened to some positive reviews from critics. It will be released in theaters on June 27.