LONDON – April 22, 2026 – Apple and Google built their digital wallets for boarding passes, event tickets, and loyalty cards. What they also built was a notification channel that sits on more than five billion phones, delivers lock-screen notifications, but has been quietly missed by the marketing industry.
PushPass, the new platform from FanCircles, is the first company to treat that channel as what it actually is: a new category of direct marketing. It calls the category lock screen marketing, and today it launches the platform that brings it to brands, creators, and anyone else with an audience worth keeping.
A channel that was hiding in plain sight
The reason it’s taken this long is simple. Google Wallet had to catch up with Apple Wallet. Notifications only became usable on Android devices via Google Wallet in late 2024. So, the fact that the pass could also push notifications to the lock screen was technically ignored until it became available on both devices. Nobody used it for marketing, because nobody in marketing had thought to look.
“Lock screen marketing is the equivalent of what email marketing used to be, but of course, notifications hit the device people look at every day,” said Kevin Brown, CEO of FanCircles and creator of PushPass. “What was missing was someone to call it a category and build a platform worth using.”
Email open rates have slipped below 20% and keep falling as inboxes filter more aggressively. Social media organic reach is under 5%. Push notification bell icons on YouTube reach less than 4% of subscribers. Lock screen notifications from wallet passes reach over 90% because the operating system treats them with the same priority as a text message.
Every pass holder recruits the next one
What separates PushPass lock screen marketing from other notification channels is that each wallet pass includes a unique QR code that turns members into viral distributors. When one person shows their pass to a friend, that friend can scan the QR code and save their own copy of the pass in 1 tap, without filling out a signup form, downloading an app, or doing anything beyond scanning and tapping Save. Once that friend has the pass, they immediately start receiving lock screen notifications too, and they’ve got their own QR code to share with someone else.
This means a brand’s audience becomes the viral marketing channel. A wallet pass holder shares their pass with a friend, who shares it with another friend, and each new pass holder becomes both a notification recipient and a potential source of more pass holders. The sharing happens face-to-face in the real world, which makes it more trusted and more effective than any digital sharing button.
The television problem lock screen marketing solves
There’s a specific case where this matters more than anywhere else: television. YouTube is now the biggest streaming platform in the United States, and TV screens account for 36% of all YouTube viewing hours. Over 150 million Americans watch YouTube on their televisions every month. But no smart TV platform, not Apple TV, not Samsung, not Roku, pushes YouTube notifications to the television screen. The bell icon goes to the phone, which is charging in another room. Even among viewers watching on their phones, only about 4% of YouTube subscribers have notifications enabled in the first place.
TV advertising has the same problem on a larger scale. Connected TV ad spend hit $32.57 billion in 2025, and the standard industry response is a QR code linking to a website. The viewer scans it, visits the page, forgets about the brand, and that’s the end of the relationship.
Lock screen marketing changes this. The QR code in a TV ad links to a wallet pass instead of a website. When the viewer scans it, the pass is added to their wallet. With a single tap, the brand now has a notification channel that works as long as the pass stays in the wallet. A 30-second TV spot becomes the start of an ongoing relationship rather than a one-time impression.
Who it’s for
PushPass is built for brands and creators who want to build a direct connection with the audience. YouTubers and podcasters who are tired of being gatekept by their own platform’s notification system. Retailers who want a direct line to customers. Restaurants and bars where QR codes already sit on tables and menus. Influencers whose reach is throttled and TV advertisers who’ve rented attention for 30 seconds, where they could have owned that audience data.
Lock screen marketing doesn’t replace the channels brands already use. It sits alongside email, social media ads, billboard advertising, TV advertising, and YouTube sponsorships as an effective channel in any marketing kit, adding something none of them can: guaranteed delivery to the lock screen, through a pass that stays on the phone persistently, with a viral sharing mechanic that turns every audience member into a potential distributor.
How it works
A brand designs its wallet pass in the PushPass platform and customizes it to fit its brand. They then share a QR code or link wherever their audience lives: a YouTube video, a product package, a TV ad, a shop window, an email signature. Someone scans or taps, the pass is saved to their Apple Wallet or Google Wallet in about 3 seconds, and from that moment, the brand can send notifications directly to their lock screen.
Every pass includes a unique QR code, so any pass holder can share it with a friend by simply showing it to them. The friend scans it, adds it to their own wallet, and from there on starts receiving notifications too. No signup form, and crucially, no app or data collection at that critical “add to wallet” moment. PushPass operates on a flat monthly fee based on audience size.
About PushPass
PushPass is the lock screen marketing platform built by FanCircles (fancircles.com). It delivers branded wallet passes to Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, giving brands and creators a direct notification channel to their audience with built-in viral sharing and loyalty features. FanCircles was founded by Kevin Brown, who previously co-founded Awin (formerly Affiliate Window), one of the world’s largest affiliate marketing networks, which was acquired by Axel Springer.
For more information, visit fancircles.com/pushpass.
Media Contact
Company Name: FanCircles
Contact Person: Chloe
Email: Send Email
Phone: +18448884744
City: London
Country: United Kingdom
Website: https://www.fancircles.com/pushpass