Marques Brownlee, better known as MKBHD, is a popular tech YouTuber who focuses heavily on mobile content. He just released a new wallpaper app called Panels for iOS and Android that features real artists, not AI. But there’s a problem: the app is getting demolished on social media.
Brownlee first announced the app on X. At the time of writing, the post (a tweet? Xeet? Who knows anymore?) has 1.6K comments, over 1.7K reposts, and over 13K likes. Despite this, the sentiment in the comment section is far from positive.
One of the first replies to the post comes from Quinn Nelson, otherwise known as SnazzyLabs — another popular YouTuber. He points out that the Panels app requests a curious number of permissions that it doesn’t need, including:
- Location
- Usage data
- Diagnostics
- Identifiers
- Purchases
- Contact info
- Search history
SnazzyLabs framed his feedback in a polite way. Many others users did not. One user said, “I haven’t seen MKBHD getting roasted this bad, ever.”
Panels charges a $50-per-year subscription fee for premium access to its library of wallpapers, and much of the discontent stems from the high cost. One commenter even said that MKBHD “graduated from the Apple School of Pricing.”
Other fans have accused Brownlee of being out of touch due to his fame and wealth. Still more have raised privacy concerns over the number of permissions the app requests. The app itself is riddled with ads, even after paying the subscription.
According to one post, the Panels app is just a repackaged version of an older wallpaper app with Brownlee’s branding on it.
YouTubers often break away from YouTube and broaden their business ventures, and this is an interesting way for Brownlee to proceed — but it’s easy to tell that it’s not a successful venture. Removing the ads, reducing the cost, and eliminating many of the permissions the app needs are the first steps he needs to take to turn the ship around.
MKBHD responded to these criticisms in another post, thanking his fans for the feedback and promising to fix the “excessive data disclosures.” He addresses the pricing concerns, but the phrasing of his response suggests it will remain at $50 while he works “to deliver that kind of value.” However, free users will potentially see a reduction in the ad frequency.
