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Tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, or MKBHD, is stepping out of the reviewer role and into the mindset of a builder. This week, he launched a wallpaper app called Panels on iOS and Android, where he’s personally curating high-quality digital wallpapers from artists — but of course, there’s a catch. In order to access high-resolution wallpapers without viewing ads, users need to cough up about $50 per year, or $12 per month.
With almost twenty million YouTube subscribers, Brownlee holds a lot of power in his tech reviews. He’s so influential that he’s been blamed for tanking hyped companies like Fisker and Humane after he posted negative videos about their products. These accusations are misguided — Fisker’s cars had serious security flaws, and Humane’s AI pin barely worked despite raising $230 million before shipping a product, which probably contributed more to these companies’ failures than a YouTube video. Still, given Brownlee’s reputation as a keen-eyed, discerning tech reviewer, fans had high expectations when he announced that he was launching an app.
The Panels app has a strong premise. When Brownlee is reviewing a new phone, laptop, or smartwatch, his devices always have particularly stylish wallpapers. As he pointed out when announcing the app, if you type “where does mkbhd…” into Google, one of the first suggestions is “… get his wallpapers.”
He couldn’t have picked a better time to launch the app, either. Last week, Apple launched the iPhone software update iOS 18, which emphasizes lock screen and home screen customization. So, there should be an appetite for sleek, high-resolution wallpapers that help you get the most out of iOS 18. But the flaw of Panels is that the prices are too steep. You can use the app for free and download lower resolution images if you watch two thirty-second ads per image — but that kind of cash grab feels like something Brownlee himself would disparage.
Image Credits: iPhone wallpapers via Panels
A redeeming quality of the app is its attempt to unlock a new income stream for digital artists in a time when generative AI is such a threat. Brownlee said that payments are being split 50-50 with artists — if a user buys a wallpaper for about $8, and Apple takes 30% of the payment, then the artist would be left receiving about $2.80 per purchase. Since it’s so easy to find cool, high-res photography online, Brownlee is trying to create a market for something that people aren’t used to paying for. But, if anyone has the sway to make it work, it would probably be a tech influencer with as much reach as Brownlee. If artists can make some additional, passive income from the app, what’s the harm?
Well, in terms of data privacy, there could be harm. Fans quickly pointed out that according to the App Store, Panels could track users’ location, usage data, and personal identifiers across other apps and websites. To Brownlee’s credit, he posted on X soon after the launch to address the issue.
“First thing we’re doing is fixing the excessive data disclosures, as people rightfully brought up. For transparency, we’d never actually ask for your location, internet history, etc. The data disclosures (that everyone is screenshotting) is likely too broad, and largely driven by what the ad networks suggest. Working to fix that ASAP,” he said.
He added that he will also dial back ad frequency for the free version of the app.
For what it’s worth, you can still get cool new wallpapers from the free version of Panels. But the lower-resolution images don’t look great unless you add Apple’s filters, and it’s difficult to imagine paying the price of a Spotify subscription to get around that barrier.
“Part of building in public is getting mass feedback immediately, which is pretty dope,” Brownlee wrote. “Almost exactly like publishing a YouTube video.”
