Apple poured some good money into making F1 – a Formula 1 racing movie starring Brad Pitt – and it wants its customers to know that. To that end, many people, including some Verge staffers, noticed an unusual Apple Wallet notification this morning that’s both an advertisement and promotion for the film.
The notification prompts users to save on movie tickets via Fandango with a promotional code, reading “Save on 2+ tickets to F1 The Movie with APPLEPAYTEN. Ends 6/29. While supplies last. Terms apply.” It looks like Apple’s trying to juice the film’s opening weekend by tempting users into a deal.
This notification was considered an affront to many recipients, as both TechCrunch and 9to5Mac previously noted. Folks are likening it to Apple’s infamous U2 debacle in 2014 when it gifted the band’s then-new album to over 500 million iTunes accounts without a way to delete it, a promotional whoopsie that reportedly cost Apple more than $100 million. Shortly after, it released a tool that let people delete the album from their libraries. More recently, Apple sent unwanted push notifications to promote Carpool Karaoke, one of the company’s first Apple TV Plus hits.
Regardless of the film’s quality, or your feelings about notifications that straddle the line of a useful deal and an ad, this is aggressively thirsty. Ads continue to not be Apple’s strongest suit in 2025. The Verge has reached out to Apple to find out more about this notification, and we’ll update this post if we hear back.
