Marques Brownlee says ‘I hear you’ after fans criticize his new wallpaper app

By Emma Roth , a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.

Marques Brownlee, the YouTuber known as MKBHD, has responded to backlash over the launch of his new wallpaper app, called Panels. In a post on Tuesday, Brownlee says he’s going to address users’ concerns about pricing and “excessive data disclosures.”

Brownlee revealed the new app as part of his iPhone 16 review on Monday — a video that’s usually among his biggest of the year. But a flood of criticism about the Panels app quickly overshadowed comments about the new iPhone. “Part of building in public is getting mass feedback immediately, which is pretty dope. Almost exactly like publishing a YouTube video,” Brownlee said.

Panels is meant to offer access to a curated selection of “stunning full resolution wallpapers” from digital artists, but fans aren’t happy about the subscription that comes along with it. It costs $49.99 per year (or $11.99 per month) for a Panels Plus subscription, which lets you download all the wallpapers in the app in high resolution. You can still access a more limited selection of wallpapers for free, but you can only download them in standard definition and have to watch two ads first.

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