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Apple’s Wallet App Is Spamming Users With Movie Ads, but There’s a Way to Stop It
The downside: You need to be running iOS 26.
No one likes ads, but they do have their time and a place. If you click on an article, you probably won't be surprised to see them displayed alongside it (unless you have an ad blocker in place, of course). But when your apps start pinging you not with relevant notifications, but with unasked for advertisements, that's a different story.
That's what some Apple Wallet users experienced today, when the app that's supposed to handle mobile payments pinged them with an ad for Apple's upcoming racing film F1: The Movie. According to a screenshot from this Reddit user, the ad reads: "$10 off at Fandango: Save on 2+ tickets to F1 The Movie with APPLEPAYTEN. Ends 6/29. While supplies last. Terms apply."
A good deal, maybe, but users are not pleased. Put aside the fact that critics seem to be enjoying F1—no one enjoys unsolicited ads, especially from apps that abuse the notification system. Wallet is far from the only app to take this road (here's looking at you, Snapchat) which is why I tend to disable notifications for all but the most essential apps.
But what makes this even worse is this is one of Apple's own system apps advertising one of Apple's original films. It feels wrong that Apple can take control of the notifications for one of its apps to tell you to see a movie it produced, just because you happened to buy a smartphone made by Apple. As one user put it, "I did not pay over [$1,000] for an iPhone to get advertised at."
Unfortunately, that might just be part of the package: Apple has been adding ads to its own apps and services since 2022, something you might have noticed when browsing the App Store or the Apple News app. Ping notifications are definitely a rarity for Apple, and I hope it stays that way, but Apple might see it in its own best interest to advertise as it wishes across its platforms and services—even if it's not in the best interest of its customers.
Luckily, there's something you can do about it—eventually, anyway.
How to disable Apple Wallet's ads
Yes, there is a way to disable these new obtrusive ads without turning off 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 do not recommend installing the beta at this time, especially not solely for disabling Wallet ads, here's how the setting works: Open the Wallet app, tap the three dots in the top right, then choose Notifications. Here, disable the toggle for Offers & Promotions. That should block these ads from showing up in the future—at least in Wallet.
Perhaps at the end of the day, Apple is still the winner in all of this. 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 pissed, but they got us talking about two different Apple products today. Touché, Apple.
