Apple Wallet App Is Spamming Users With Movie Ads, but There’s a Way to Stop It
Nobody likes ads, but they have their time and place. If you click on an article, you probably won’t be surprised to see them next to it (unless you have an ad blocker installed, of course). But when your apps start pinging you with unwanted ads instead of relevant notifications, that’s a different story.
That’s what some Apple Wallet users experienced today when the app that’s supposed to handle mobile payments showed them an ad for Apple’s upcoming racing film F1: The Movie . According to this Reddit user’s screenshot, the ad reads: “$10 off Fandango: Save on 2+ F1 The Movie tickets with APPLEPAYTEN. Ends June 29. While supplies last. Terms apply.”
A good deal, perhaps, but users are unhappy. Putting aside the fact that critics seem to enjoy the F1 , no one likes unwanted ads, especially from apps that abuse the notification system. Wallet is far from the only app to go down this path (we’re looking at you, Snapchat), so I try to turn off notifications for all but the most essential apps .
But what makes this even worse is that it’s one of Apple’s own system apps advertising one of Apple’s original films. It seems wrong that Apple would take control of notifications for one of its apps to suggest you watch a film it released, just because you happened to buy an Apple-made smartphone. As one user put it , “I didn’t pay over [$1,000] for an iPhone to have ads on it.”
Unfortunately, this may just be part of the package: Apple is adding ads to its apps and services starting in 2022 , which you may have noticed while browsing the App Store or the Apple News app. Ping notifications are definitely a rarity for Apple, and I hope they stay that way, but Apple may feel it’s in its own interest to advertise what it wants on its platforms and services — even if it’s not in the interests of its customers.
Fortunately, something can be done about this—at least eventually.
How to Disable Apple Wallet Ads
Yes, there is a way to disable these new intrusive ads without disabling Wallet notifications entirely—you just need to be running the right version of iOS.
As it turns out, Apple has added a new notification setting to Wallet in iOS 26, which is currently in beta testing . While I don’t recommend installing the beta at this time, especially not just to disable Wallet ads, here’s how the setting works: Open the Wallet app, tap the three dots in the upper-right corner, then select Notifications . Here, turn off the Offers & Promotions toggle. This should block those ads from showing up in the future — at least in Wallet.
Comment from u/african-nightmare in iPhone thread
Maybe Apple is the winner in all of this after all. Not only does this story bring extra attention to Apple’s new movie, it also highlights a new quality-of-life feature in iOS 26. Sure, people are mad, but it’s forced us to talk about two different Apple products today. Touché, Apple.