Gab Hernandez 
Marques Brownlee has responded to fans after the backlash and controversy surrounding his wallpaper app, Panels.
After a certain level of popularity, some YouTubers may find themselves looking for fresh avenues of cash. While MrBeast might make some unpopular and potentially illegal moves, others aim to expand their brand in a new platform. In Marques Brownlee’s case, the tech reviewer has decided to give the app world a crack.
The Panels app dubs itself the “ultimate wallpaper app” and claims to have hundreds of original high-quality wallpapers, with more added weekly. Fans responded excitedly to the idea, expecting a relatively simple app with unique artwork and illustrations. However, the app soon became controversial for its price tag and lack of features.
How much is Marques Brownlee’s Panels app?
The Panels subscription costs $12 monthly or $50 for an entire year, a price point that has drummed up controversy and criticism of Marques Brownlee.
Panels is a wallpaper app that locks several features behind an expensive subscription. The Panels app is, in essence, an app that lets people download wallpapers, albeit handpicked by Brownlee and his team. However, the app has come under fire with several criticisms.
Namely, the app locks features such as the full gallery for wallpapers, ad-free browsing, and full HD resolution behind a paywall. Critics compared the app’s pricing to Netflix’s Standard tier without ads ($15.49), which offers access to every single Netflix title available in the user’s region.
“From looking at the comments on his latest iPhone review, a lot of the comments aren’t about the iPhone but about this money grab. Not a good look,” said one Redditor in a thread criticizing the app.
Another user reported that hackers had already found a way to bypass the paywall and downloaded all the wallpapers. Most also worried about the absurd number of permissions the seemingly simple wallpaper app required, sparking speculation of spyware.
Marques Brownlee responds to Panels app controversy
Marques Brownlee promises to fix many of the issues pointed out by fans, particularly the pricing and data disclosures.
Brownlee has only responded to two criticisms of the app so far. Namely, the dozens of permissions such as “Local IP Address” and “GPS Coordinates” made fans very worried about their privacy. Brownlee promised to fix the overly extensive data disclosures as soon as possible.
As for the pricing, Brownlee acknowledged the criticism but only promised to “deliver that kind of value for the premium version” and reduce ad frequency. No comment was made about the app’s reportedly poor code. Critics were not pleased by the response, which validated their perspective that Brownlee did not connect to the average person. Time will tell if Brownlee’s wallpaper app can eventually live up to its price tag.
