Tech review YouTuber Marques Brownlee upset fans after he released a subscription wallpaper smartphone app called Panels that charges $12 a month for access to high-resolution phone wallpapers.
The price tag for Panels+, the paid version of the app, raised eyebrows from Brownlee’s loyal fan base.
Brownlee says he curated the wallpapers himself, and boasts collaboration with high quality digital artists.
But plenty of people questioned why anybody should pay for wallpapers given you can just download many of them for free.
Brownlee, who posts under the username MKBHD (Marques Keith Brownlee High Definition), is one of the biggest tech reviewers on the internet. He’s been posting videos on YouTube since 2009, racking up over 19.5 million subscribers.
He’s also a big wallpaper fan, and over the years has frequently posted wallpapers for fans to download for free. Brownlee also released a free version of the app, but users need to pay to get high resolution images and exclusive designs.
Beyond the high price, posters are also wondering why the app collects so much data.
“That’s a lot of data to sell wallpapers,” posted @olearydan on X, pointing to location tracking and usage data which tracks app users not just within the app, but across other websites and apps as well.
Brownlee’s videos, which are often in-depth looks at tech hardware and features, have earned him a reputation as a serious, well-informed reviewer with a commitment to his craft and a squeaky clean reputation.
But he’s burned at least some of that goodwill with the Panels launch.
“I don’t get the location requirement,” posted @bxlewi1, though other posters pointed out that location data made sense for selling ads.
Ads are shown while you scroll through results on the app’s “intuitive search tool,” which allows for filtering by “categories, colors, and styles.”
Many posters didn’t appreciate the app running ads in the first place.
“Congrats on the launch but man, didn’t expect the app to be kind of a mess, full of ads and unlocking the full resolution needs a subscription, it’s not worth it imo,” posted @AbdulSbeei. “You know I could get most of these from Pinterest for free in full resolution, right?”
“Just sell high quality images with your brand,” added @olearydan. “I’d totally respect that. The comments on this are pretty damning, and I think rightfully so.”
For plenty of posters, though, it’s the whole idea that’s ridiculous in the first place.
“You’re wasting your platform. This is like someone with a billion followers launching a cloned flashlight app,” posted @wuwufo. “Your pocket is clean consumer hardware, you could come up with something innovative clean and fun in that space. This, is not it.”
“This damages your brand,” added @alexkehr. “It’s crazy that the #1 tech reviewer known for advocating for quality and usefulness would release a cash-grab subscription app with terrible UI design, filled with ads, and offering mediocre wallpapers.”
Over on r/mkbhd, an unofficial fan Subreddit for Brownlee, Redditors piled on. They called the product a cash grab, and compared him to influencers like Mr. Beast, Logan Paul, and KSI, who’ve also been called out recently for products that many people see as a cash-in.
In response to the backlash, Brownlee posted a tweet on Tuesday responding to some of the criticism.
“Part of building in public is getting mass feedback immediately, which is pretty dope. Almost exactly like publishing a YouTube video,” Brownlee wrote.
He announced the app would reduce how much data it collects, as well as cut back on the ads in the free version of the app.
“As far as pricing, I hear you! It’s our own personal challenge to work to deliver that kind of value for the premium version,” Brownlee added.
Jono Tan, Brownlee’s Head of Creative Projects, didn’t immediately answer questions about the backlash.
But plenty of posters weren’t mollified.
“I have huge respect for you and everything you do, but this product was planned really bad,” @mrgshum posted on X. “You are charging more per month than YouTube premium and not providing even 0.01% value of it.”
Meanwhile, one poster quickly wrote a program that downloads all the app’s wallpapers, which were easily pulled from a public facing Google Cloud link that points to the locations of the files, which are hosted on imigix.
“Introducing MKBSD, a program that downloads all the wallpapers from @MKBHD’s shitty, predatory, grifting sellout tracking @panels_art app,” posted @kaepora. “Took me 26 minutes to write this after reverse engineering the app. Enjoy!
And on the r/mkbhd Subreddit, the top post is a screenshot of a tweet that Brownlee posted eight years ago.
“Golden rule #1 of the internet,” Brownlee posted on November 4, 2016. “Never try to charge for something that was already free.”
“is this in response to something?” @josiahwalton_ asked back then.
“It’s for future reference,” Brownlee replied the same day.
“Well, you certainly got that right,” @cesarmerlos replied on Wednesday.
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