More on Apple's Trust-Eroding 'F1 the Movie' Wallet Ad

Apple’s Wallet Ad as a Trust Break Point

• The F1 movie push notification from Apple Wallet is widely seen as crossing a red line: Wallet is associated with payments, identity, tickets, and “serious” data, not marketing.
• Even if the ad was not individually targeted, many argue perception matters: users will reasonably infer that their purchases and tickets are being watched and exploited.
• Commenters note Apple’s own App Store rules ban promotional push notifications without explicit opt‑in; Wallet’s campaign appears to violate those rules, highlighting double standards.

Privacy Branding vs. Reality

• Apple’s “Privacy. That’s Apple.” messaging is contrasted with growing ad surfaces (App Store search ads, Apple Music promos, Apple TV+ pushes, Maps/Widgets “nearby” promos).
• Some argue Apple is still more privacy‑respecting than ad‑funded rivals and is structurally incentivized to champion privacy as a differentiator.
• Others say this is largely marketing: citing extensive telemetry, iMessage backups undermining end‑to‑end encryption, and the abandoned client‑side photo‑scanning proposal as evidence Apple will cross lines when convenient.

Historical Echoes: U2 Album, Mozilla, and Notification Spam

• The incident is repeatedly likened to the forced U2 album: an unwanted “gift” that polluted libraries and auto‑played in cars for years, eroding trust and control.
• Mozilla’s Mr. Robot promotion is referenced as another case where marketing spent hard‑won trust for short‑term media tie‑ins.
• More broadly, people link this to universal notification abuse: Uber, delivery apps, Google Photos, Windows, and others using “critical” or vague channels to push offers.

Apple’s Cultural Drift and Leadership Critique

• Many see this as a symptom of Apple’s shift from “build great products, profits will follow” to “everything is a revenue stream.”
• There’s extensive nostalgia for the Jobs era: stories of tasteless ideas being killed instantly, and a belief that this Wallet ad would never have shipped then.
• Tim Cook is characterized as an operations/finance leader who tolerates ads, lock‑in, and over‑monetization; some call for a product‑centric successor.

Lock‑In, Alternatives, and Enshittification

• A recurring theme: Apple may be “best of bad options,” but users feel increasingly trapped as hardware innovation slows and services/ads grow.
• Alternatives (Android, Linux, GrapheneOS, Pinephone, etc.) are debated: some prioritize freedom over polish; others describe them as too fragile, janky, or labor‑intensive.
• Several see this as classic late‑stage capitalism: once growth from devices plateaus, companies inevitably squeeze users with ads and dark patterns until trust and experience decay.