How MKBHD Transformed His Wallpaper App After User Feedback

 

Marques Brownlee, a popular YouTuber known as MKBHD, has faced intense criticism recently. People have long been curious about where he sources his appealing wallpapers.

In response, he launched a wallpaper app called Panels. Despite much excitement, the app received significant criticism for its high price. In this blog, we will explore what happened and how Brownlee addressed and improved the wallpaper application.

The Wallpaper App’s Launch and Initial Criticism

After launching the app, it didn't take long for people to start criticizing it due to its high pricing. The monthly subscription was $11.99, which is equivalent to KES 1,537.12, and the yearly subscription was $50, equivalent to KES 6,451.50 based on the current exchange rate.

That's a lot to consider because you can find free wallpapers on the internet. The app was also filled with ads, which gave users a really bad experience, especially with in-feed ads.

Even after watching the ads to download the wallpapers, you still didn't get the full-resolution versions, and the wallpapers were cut at a standard resolution, if you wanted the full-resolution wallpapers, you had to pay for a monthly or yearly subscription.

MKBHD’s Response to Feedback

After the app went live and received a lot of criticism Brownlee tried responding to most of the feedback on social media, however, this was not good enough to convince people and that’s why he decided to make a follow-up video detailing the changes.

The Updated Version: Changes Made

1. Price

Two and a half weeks later, Brownlee uploaded a follow-up video in which he acknowledged the criticism. The primary criticism was about pricing, and he took three steps to address it. First, he aimed to improve the free experience by eliminating the third-party infeed ads that made the app feel cheap.

All non-collection wallpapers will now be available for free in 1080p without any ads. The creator mentioned that if you want the full-resolution 4K or 8K versions, you can get the full version by watching a single 30-second ad, which I am okay with.

Brownlee is offering a new subscription tier that costs $2.00 per month. This tier is completely ad-free and offers content at full resolution, ensuring you never see ads and always enjoy the highest resolution regardless of the screen you're using.

He also stated that the app is going to support paid art collections where artists will now be able to charge for their collections of pieces. 

Users have the option to purchase individual collections for a set monthly fee. However, if you're interested in multiple collections, Panels Plus offers a subscription for $12 per month. This subscription grants access to every collection in the app, as well as any premium content added during your subscription period.

If you frequently change your wallpaper or have multiple devices, you now have the option to subscribe for a year at $50. By subscribing, you will enjoy an ad-free experience, support artists through exclusive app icons, unlock all available collections, and get early access to new wallpaper releases.

2. Privacy

This was something that many people were really worried about from the beginning. The app collected data which to some might be sensitive data to give out. 

The app's panel collected a significant amount of user data, including purchases, contact information, identifiers, location, search history, and usage data. Brownlee explained that this information is typically provided to the app store for potential future use by the app.

However, they selected an excessive amount of data categories. On the positive side, users have the option to use the app without logging in, avoiding the need to provide an email or create an account.

3. The App

After I downloaded the app, I initially thought it looked unimpressive, almost like a basic website. The interface wasn't as nice as other wallpaper apps. However, after the recent update, the app looks much cleaner and smoother. Brownlee also mentioned that he and his team are working with the developers to ensure a consistent and seamless experience on both iOS and Android.

He also acknowledged AI-generated pictures in the app and gave an example of pictures by a creator that looked exactly like it was generated by AI. 

For instance, Chris Heather's images are photographs that he took himself, such as a picture of a building. He used AI to train the images to generate similar photos. The app will also label any photos enhanced with AI as "AI-enhanced."

Also to prevent AI-generated photos from filling up the app, photos will be reviewed before being uploaded and that is guaranteed at least according to him.

Community Reaction Post-Update

After he made the changes people were pleased with the new update, A lot of changes have been made, and some users even suggested some things that could be added such as the option to tip a creator especially if the photo is in the free version tier.

Someone pointed out that there is a software glitch on the Galaxy Z Fold where the wallpaper for the inside of the screen keeps setting it to half a page horizontally. When it finally does a full screen, it causes one UI to keep crashing. If you have a flip phone, especially a Samsung phone, you should check on this. However, Brownlee commented and said they would be fixing it.

Comparing the sentiments before and after the update, many people are happy. As the saying goes, "If you are going to dish it out, you have to be able to take it too," I think Brownlee lived up to this.

Conclusion

MKBHD handled the situation well. He even tried to respond to critics on X (formerly Twitter), but that wasn't sufficient.

He went on to make a lengthy YouTube video explaining everything and also accepted the mistakes, saying they were 100% on him. I loved the fact that he didn't come up with excuses and went straight to the point.

The app generally is good, and I won’t be uninstalling it anytime soon as I did the first time it launched, I have actually been changing wallpapers frequently, I love how they look, the wallpapers are really vibrant on my phone and I am looking to more wallpapers.