Marques Brownlee says ‘we failed on the price’ with Panels

Marques Brownlee published a video connected Friday addressing the criticisms astir Panels, his caller wallpaper app, saying that he and the squad “failed connected the value front” astatine launch. The app received an outpour of criticism from fans, some connected the MKBHD YouTube transmission and crossed societal platforms. Discussing the app, Brownlee admitted it needed work. “If I was reviewing this app, I would not person been very nice,” he said.

One of the superior criticisms of the app was that the premium “Panels Plus” subscription costs $11.99 per period aliases $49.99 per twelvemonth to region ads and person afloat entree to the disposable collections of wallpapers. To make things better, Brownlee and the squad person been improving the free experience by getting free of in-feed ads, making each wallpapers that aren’t portion of a postulation disposable successful 1080p for free pinch nary ads, and letting group get a full-resolution wallpaper by watching 1 30-second ad.

As for the subscription’s price, “even though subscriptions are incredibly unpopular, we wanted to astatine slightest connection 1 that made consciousness for the wallpaper powerfulness user... for really fewer of you really exist,” Brownlee says. There’s now a new, much affordable Panels Plus “Standard” tier that costs $1.99 per period pinch nary ads connected individual wallpapers. The higher “Unlimited” tier, which is still astatine that $11.99 per period / $49.99 per twelvemonth price, adds afloat entree to collections and early entree to caller wallpapers.

Brownlee besides touches connected concerns astir what the app was search based connected the agelong database that had been included successful the App Privacy conception of the App Store. “Another blunder by us,” Brownlee says. “This was measurement excessively broad.” Brownlee says that the database really was “a database of things that you arsenic a developer supply to the App Store for things that the app may, astatine immoderate point, inquire conscionable to show group up of time, conscionable to beryllium safe, and we conscionable checked measurement excessively galore boxes.”

Brownlee says that astir of the boxes were checked because of “broad suggestions” from the app’s advertisement service, AdMob. “To beryllium clear, I do not want your data,” he says. He besides points retired that you tin usage the app and get wallpapers without making an account.

In the afloat video, which is much than 15 minutes long, Brownlee discusses different aspects of the app, too, for illustration that location will beryllium play drops connected Fridays pinch caller creation and that he tin “personally promise” that the app won’t beryllium filled pinch AI-generated slop.

The Panels app launched the aforesaid time arsenic MKBHD’s iPhone 16 review successful September.