FAQ

What SeatDrop is, what it isn't, which theatres it covers, and how to get back to your alerts.

Does SeatDrop buy tickets for me?

No. SeatDrop monitors and notifies — that's the whole job. When an alert fires, you tap through and book on the theatre's own website.

SeatDrop never holds, reserves, or purchases tickets, and never stores payment information. It also can't guarantee that a seat will still be there when you get to it; it tells you the moment something changes so you can move first.

Why do I have to install the app on my phone?

Because push notifications are the only way SeatDrop reaches you, and they only work from an installed app on a mobile device. A browser tab can't receive them, and neither can a desktop install.

Installing takes about 30 seconds — see Install on your phone.

Once you're set up on a phone, you can use SeatDrop on a laptop too: enter your SD- code and you'll see your alerts, and new alerts you save there will notify your phone.

Which theatre chains does SeatDrop work with?

AMC Theatres, Cinemark Theatres, and Alamo Drafthouse across the US, plus BFI IMAX and BFI Southbank in London, and Apple Cinemas IMAX locations in the US. Seat monitoring works the same everywhere; a few extras vary.

Seat names follow whatever the cinema uses, so the seat you pick in SeatDrop matches the seat on your ticket.

Can I be notified when a movie goes on sale for the first time?

That's a ticket drop alert — you pick an upcoming film at your theatre before tickets exist, and SeatDrop notifies you the moment they go on sale.

⏸ Paused right now. Ticket-drop alerts rely on AMC's showtime feed, which is currently unavailable, so the Upcoming tab is hidden and new drop alerts can't be created. Drop alerts you already saved are kept and resume automatically — there's nothing to re-create, and no need to cancel them. Seat monitoring and new-showtime alerts are unaffected.

For how it works when it's running, see Upcoming showtimes and the ticket-drop notifications in Alert types.

I lost my code, or I reinstalled the app and my alerts vanished

Your alerts are safe — this device just isn't linked to them yet.

After a reinstall, the Alerts tab shows "This device isn't linked yet" with a code box, and the Profile tab has the same box under Account. Enter your SeatDrop code and your alerts appear straight away; confirm "Get alerts on this device?" to move notifications here too.

If your old install has been used in the last few days, we'll ask you to confirm by email before moving notifications — that's the safeguard that stops someone with your code from quietly redirecting your alerts. If you never linked an email, you can do it right from that screen.

Don't know your code? Tap Recover via email → instead.

Reinstalling a second time won't fix a quiet app: each reinstall gives the device a brand-new notification address, so the fix is always to link this install, not to start over.

More detail in Access your alerts on another device and Troubleshooting notifications.