Marques Brownlee has responded to the backlash against the pricey subscription-based wallpaper app, Panels. The popular tech YouTuber promised to address some of the concerns raised by his followers after the app, which requires users to pay $49.99 a year for access to high-resolution wallpapers, received overwhelming criticism online.
YouTuber Marques Brownlee has released a wallpaper app called Panels. (X/MKBHD)
Who is Marques Brownlee?
Marques Brownlee, also known as MKBHD, is a popular American tech YouTuber. He is best known for his in-depth technology reviews, especially on consumer electronics such as smartphones, laptops, and gadgets.
With 20 million YouTube subscribers, Brownlee has a huge influence on people’s decisions when it comes to purchasing electronics. In fact, Brownlee has even been accused of bankrupting companies and products with his negative reviews, as happened recently with the Humane AI pin.
What are panels?
Panels is a wallpaper app that gives subscribers access to a selection of “stunning, full-resolution wallpapers” from digital artists. The app, which Brownlee released on Monday, has a pricey price tag of $49.99 per year for the Panels Plus subscription. Users can also opt for a monthly subscription plan that costs $11.99 per month.
Subscribers can download full-resolution wallpapers. The app can also be used for free, but this option allows users to download lower-resolution images and requires them to watch two ads.
Why is there criticism of the panel?
Brownlee announced the new app on Monday as part of a review of the iPhone 16. By Tuesday, social media was abuzz with criticism of the wallpaper app, with some accusing it of being a money-maker and others raising concerns about data privacy.
Most critics were surprised to see such a product coming from Marques Brownlee, who is renowned for his meticulous researched insight into the latest tech releases.
“It’s hard to comprehend how someone could spend years building up one of the best reputations in tech and then suddenly ruin it all by releasing ad spam, location tracking and $11.99/month wallpaper garbage. What on earth is this?” one person on X wrote.
“Imagine settling into a subscription-based wallpaper app with enough users to bring almost any idea to life,” another user wrote.
Much of the criticism was directed at the subscription fee, with users saying they were reluctant to pay $50 for wallpaper, but others praised MKBHD for supporting digital artists in an era when AI-generated art is on the rise.
Response to Brownlee’s criticism
Marques Brownlee responded to the backlash on social media platform X, citing two main points of criticism: pricing and data privacy concerns.
According to TechCrunch, several people have pointed out that the Panels app can track users’ location, usage data, and other personal identifiers across apps and websites.
“First, we will fix the excessive data disclosure, as people have rightly pointed out. In the interest of transparency, we don’t actually ask for your location, internet history, etc. The data disclosure (that everyone is screenshotting) was probably too broad and heavily driven by ad network suggestions. We are working to fix this as soon as possible,” Brownlee said.
The American YouTuber said he was working on plans to reduce advertising on the app.
“Regarding pricing, I totally agree with you! We’ll challenge ourselves to strive to provide that kind of value in the premium version (weekly Friday drops have already started). We’ll also be reducing the ad frequency in the free trial,” he posted.
Brawley acknowledged that the target market for subscription-based wallpaper apps is “very small.”
