Apple has landed in hot water again for pushing a movie promo through its Wallet app a place users expect for payments, not ads. This week, iPhone users received an unsolicited push notification offering a $10 discount on F1 the Movie, a co-promotion with Warner Bros. While harmless on paper, it’s the delivery method that sparked outrage.
Many users took to social media calling it intrusive and tone-deaf. The move instantly drew comparisons to Apple’s infamous 2014 U2 album stunt, when the band’s album Songs of Innocence was force-installed into iTunes libraries without consent. Users argued that devices costing upwards of $1000 should be ad-free sanctuaries especially from Apple itself.
Worse, there’s no real way to opt out on current iOS versions. While you can silence card-related benefits or specific notifications, Wallet-based marketing messages aren’t fully controllable unless you’re running the iOS 26 beta which quietly adds a toggle to block such offers. That alone hints at a future where Apple might lean further into system-based ads, a move likely to anger privacy-conscious users.
The incident stings more given Apple’s longstanding pitch around user privacy and control. Ads for Apple services already appearing in Settings and News+ have irritated users for years, but pushing external promos through Wallet crosses a new line. Apple has yet to comment officially, but this feels like the start of a larger debate about where the company draws the line between promotion and intrusion on devices it claims are designed to respect your personal space.
