Marques Brownlee says he’s working to dial back the ads.

Marques Brownlee, known as MKBHD, faced backlash over his new wallpaper app, Panels, due to its high subscription cost ($49.99/year) and concerns over excessive data permissions.

Brownlee acknowledged user feedback, promising to adjust ad frequency for free users and address privacy concerns, clarifying that the app’s data disclosures were broader than intended.

The app, which offers curated wallpapers and shares profits with artists, aims to improve over time, despite criticisms of its design and monetization approach.

  • ContrarianTrail@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    There are infinite list of things and services that are way too expensive for me to even consider buying but I also don’t go around complaining about them. Move on guys… If you want free wallpapers you can try one of the other 9000 free wallpaper apps available. This is recreational outrage.

  • mortemtyrannis@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    No sane individual is going to pay for a subscription for phone backgrounds.

    That is absolutely a stupid business idea and the people who came up with it should be publicly shamed.

    • sag@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      You think it’s new? It’s have already done by so many people in Android community. Like Widepaper, Wallfever, Wallbyte etc. These all apps are paid. People actually pay for Wallpapers.

      • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        I think buying an app for a couple of quid that has a good curated collection of wallpapers, a nice UX, etc. is a completely fair price to pay for the convenience. I like supporting devs. I fail to see the stupidity.

        A $12 monthly subscription is an entirely different beast, though.

        • T156@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          2 months ago

          Or even a market that let you just buy individual wallpapers as you want them, like how you used to be able to buy individual tracks in itunes instead of a whole album.

          A subscription model is a bit silly.

    • Toribor@corndog.socialEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      Back in the day people paid for ringtones, wallpapers, etc. Dumbest thing ever were ‘ringbacks’ where you paid to have a song or something play when people called you. So the people buying it didn’t even hear it, they just forced other people to listen to a shitty low fidelity garbled mess of a song they liked while you waited for them to pick up the phone.

    • spongebue@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      Remember when people paid for ringtones? Doesn’t mean it isn’t stupid, especially as a subscription, but people do stupid things and other people take advantage.

      • atrielienz@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        And Ringback tones too. For when people called you, so they could listen to your favorite song instead of the ring of the phone while waiting for you to pick up.

        • spongebue@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          2 months ago

          I forgot about that! And most songs sound like ass when you hear it over a phone, especially before whatever they did in the last decade to make voice calls more clear

  • Sensitivezombie@lemmy.zipEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Paying for wallpapers is just not justifiable to me, especially when there are so many sources that offer high quality wallpapers for free, from apps to dedicated forums to simply online search.

    • tacosplease@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      It’s cool for people with lots of extra cash I guess. I like that 50% of profits go to the artists.

      That said, I am certainly not one of those people with extra money to spend on wallpapers. Seems like we’re not the target demographic.

      Maybe that’s part of this guy’s problem here. His channel has a broader appeal than the app, so the people outside the app’s target demographic got irritated.

  • apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    I started to get worked up but then i remembered I don’t particularly care. He’s in it to make bank, not necessarily sell you a quality product. If he were, he wouldn’t be selling a wallpaper app.

    • djsaskdja@reddthat.comEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      Yeah it seems like a weird thing to get mad about. No one is forcing anyone to pay this guy for his wallpaper app. Keep watching his videos if you enjoy them or don’t. The wallpaper app seems as inconsequential as his DBrand shilling. I watch his reviews every year and I’ve never bought anything from DBrand lol. Mostly because the products look like shit tbh.

  • JigglySackles@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    I’ve never liked this guy, he just always felt like a smarmy asshole each time I tried to watch him and he shilled Apple stuff way too hard for my liking. Blocked his channel and several channels that collabed with him and was mostly able to ignore his existence. Doing something shitty like this kinda adds confirmation to my perceptions of him. What an out of touch douche move.

    • Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      The first time i saw one of his reviews, i thought, “This guy isn’t genuine.” “That’s not an opinion. it’s a specification disguised as an opinion.”

      He gave off real shill vibes, and then i later found out he was an apple simp, and it all came together. He isn’t super biased, but he definitely gives more providence to apple products.

      His recent review of the apple vr headset was too nice. He said some bad things but qualifies each critisism with a “but i like that” or “but it’s not a deal breaker.”

      Maybe i created a bias against him based on my early impressions, but i just get a bad vibe from him. He doesn’t seem to give his opinions.

      I will say, though, an exception would be that rabbit thing he reviewed poorly recently and got some backlash from the manufacturer for. I believe he then came back and justified his review. Although everyone was reviewing it poorly so he would give the game away if he said it was good. So perhaps its not an exception… i dont know. Im just freestyling this comment…

      • bruhSoulz@lemmy.mlEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        Totally on board with you. The only tech dudes I trust are ones that are around Linux space bc they usually tend to call out bs when they see it; mental outlaw, someordinarygamers to name a couple.

  • iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Apparently one of the wallpapers is just solid orange. It’s called “Orange”, is labeled as “abstract”, and is labeled with a copyright.

    It’s a solid orange rectangle.

      • Hackerman_uwu@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        That is a measure of exactly nothing.

        https://www.nme.com/photos/30-minutes-or-less-19-famous-songs-written-at-staggering-speed-1422651

        Your post makes it very clear that you have little experience in the creative world. There is no linear measure of successs or quality. You do a great disservice to those toiling with their creativity by making comments such as this one. We need artists, they are fragile things and should be treated with care.

        I didn’t start this post planning to get hetup but I do feel that taking umbrage to your comment is fair, if not tautological.

        I would encourage you to labour over a still life or wrestle a passable rendition of your favourite guitar riff. Try sing the first phrase of your favourite song in key. Trust me: none of those things are easy.

        If you don’t like “Orange” then just look at something else and hold your tongue.

        • Hackerman_uwu@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          2 months ago

          Perhaps more likely years of work with colour and colour theory preceding a quick output of some content? Why the sarcastic tone?

          • willow@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            0·
            2 months ago

            The sarcastic tone is likely because of the price. There is something jarring about such a simple product, even if it was made by an artist with a good eye for color, being behind such a large paywall. Most people find this app, even forgetting “Orange,” to be overpriced, myself included. It should be expected for people to use the most extreme examples to point out the absurdity and to laugh at it, especially when it’s being marketed to the public.

            Had this been an app you buy for $10 once, still there would be people like this, but much less. And if it were free, for example, nobody would bat an eye. The outrage is caused by price.

            I’m not invested in this debacle at all, really. I just found your lack of understanding interesting. Not trying to offend you by that.

            • Hackerman_uwu@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              2 months ago

              Sure. I definitely do not disagree about the price but I wish you’d made it about that and not the art. Have a good Friday!

        • mamg22@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          0·
          2 months ago

          And just the effort of painting every one of those pixels one by one, it’s not like we have some magic tool to fill an image with the same color and call it a day.

  • dinckel@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    I feel this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but if you want unique wallpapers, consider paying an actual artist, instead of an influencer