319

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.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 176 points 1 month 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.

[-] Vince@lemmy.world 36 points 1 month ago

Maybe it's inspired by Rothko

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago

The artist spent a lot of time on that!

[-] TwinTusks@bitforged.space 22 points 1 month ago

Months to get that perfect shade of orange.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Archer@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

Anish Kapoor strikes again

[-] dinckelman@lemmy.world 154 points 1 month 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

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 44 points 1 month ago

If I want a unique wallpaper I go on a walk in the great outdoors and take a picture

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] Telorand@reddthat.com 21 points 1 month ago

Sounds pretty reasonable to me. Avoid sites like Fiver, though. Lots of AI bullshit pretending to be real art.

[-] rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world 37 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Even before the flood of AI bullshit Fiverr really, really sucked for the human artists, creatives, coders, and other freelancers employed through the platform.

[-] TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago

I made a Fiverr account once for my art services. I deleted it within an hour of creation after reading how much money they would steal from my commissions.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml 113 points 1 month 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.ee 44 points 1 month 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.world 33 points 1 month 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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] ichbinjasokreativ@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago

I've not looked into it, but it's probably pitched as a feel-good way of supporting artists.

[-] spongebue@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month 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.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Deceptichum@quokk.au 92 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

$50 a year for wallpapers or I could go to wallhaven and get millions for free?

[-] iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 40 points 1 month ago

The "shares its profits with the artists" part is relevant here.

[-] Arbiter@lemmy.world 64 points 1 month ago

It would almost be cheaper to commission an artist frankly.

[-] iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 month ago

Almost is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.

[-] yggstyle@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

Nah it'd be cheaper to commission the artist for a dozen or so pictures for 45 bucks:

First you need to blow some ungodly amount of money on breaking the time/space barrier.... Then travel back to the 1920s and find a starving artist. Then pitch him 45 bucks for some art. Easy! 45 bucks to them is like 800 of our today dollars.

Sarcasm aside- it seems people really are disconnected on how much a commission or art costs. Sure you can buy prints reasonably priced but any commission that isn't a speedy doodle is going to clock in a helluva lot higher.

[-] MagnyusG@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago

For a single piece sure.

I presume the idea here is that you have access to their full library. Personally, I fail to see why I would change my wallpaper enough to warrant even a free app to change it, let alone 50 bucks.

load more comments (9 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)
load more comments (9 replies)
[-] emax_gomax@lemmy.world 66 points 1 month ago

It costs $49.99 per year (or $11.99 per month)

Why in the hell does the monthly price end with you paying 280% more than the yearly. That is such an absurd discount I don't even know why someone would pay at all for this app but more so I want to understand where the price justification is and who came up with this plan.

To be clear I support artists and more than welcome a platform for them to share and sell art if they wish... I don't get why it needs to be a subscription service and I don't see how such inflated charges are going to help artists as it'll just discourage large numbers of people wanting to support them.

[-] EvilBit@lemmy.world 62 points 1 month ago

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-decision-lab/201109/product-pricing-and-framing-when-are-we-likely-pay-more

Short version: there’s an $80 bread maker with 5 features, a $120 bread maker with 12 features, and a $475 bread maker with 14 features.

The $475 bread maker only exists to make the $120 version look like a bargain.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

I want to understand where the price justification is

The justification is that people should be yearly subscribers when they can more easily forget to cancel it.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] DudeImMacGyver@sh.itjust.works 61 points 1 month ago
[-] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 51 points 1 month ago

Marques has a decent chunk of his fan base that's...kinda rich? That's the only thing that can explain why he reviews supercars and expects people to use their phone without a case. So if he's directing some of that fan base's money toward artists, I'm all for it, assuming the profit sharing is reasonable (and I have no reason to believe it's not).

I mean, I'm not going to pay that sort of money on a wallpaper (I almost always use photos of family or friends anyway). But if the people who buy it like it, and the people who sell art for it are treated well, you go MKBHD.

load more comments (12 replies)
[-] WolvenSpectre@lemmy.ca 49 points 1 month ago

Marques Brownlee: "Don't pay for what something will be, pay for what it is now" and "I don't review what will be, but what a product is now"

Also Marques Brownlee: "Pay the subscription fee now for the unnamed unspecified features this will have other than just wallpapers now to fund future development"

Who knew the next company he would "kill" would be his own. The only way to find his app on Android is to use the link from his site because of the generic name.

BTW Wallpaper Engine, which has an android app, is currently $5 Canadian, and I am told with Proton can also work on Linux PC's and has an huge amount of modifiable wallpapers.

load more comments (6 replies)
[-] vxx@lemmy.world 45 points 1 month ago

Wallpapers on phone are useless because apps are always full screen.

Who would pay for such thing?

[-] NebGilum@lemmy.world 45 points 1 month ago

This guy is no different than every other smarmy "Tech Reviewer" on YT. His reviews have been borderline useless for the last few years. This is just the next logical step that these guys take - hitch themselves onto a tech accessory or app and charge their followers predatory prices - fuck this guy.

[-] Toribor@corndog.social 31 points 1 month ago

It's kind of a paradox when you think about it. Good reviewers are often just regular people with a passion for tech but as they become more popular and prolific they become part of the industry itself. Once that happens even if they try to stay objective and critical their perspective is so different from regular people that reviews are just part of the sales and marketing strategy rather than pro tips from an enthusiast.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] FinishingDutch@lemmy.world 40 points 1 month ago

Paying for ANY wallpaper is just silly, much less a subscription model.

The only time you should pay for one if it’s an artist you want to actively support and/or thank for that specific work.

[-] ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 20 points 1 month ago

For the last 30 years, they've been trying to charge for dumb shit like wallpapers, screen savers, mouse cursors.

Who are these people who buy them? And what's wrong with you?

[-] BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee 20 points 1 month ago

When toy story came out, i saw this toy story pc game. I put all my money together just to then find out that it wasn't a game, it was a cd rom with like 12 wallpapers on it.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[-] AgentGrimstone@lemmy.world 38 points 1 month ago

Can people no longer upload a JPG to their phones? What am I missing here?

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Soup@lemmy.cafe 35 points 1 month ago

Everyone that buys this garbage deserves to lose their money.

[-] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 33 points 1 month ago

"I hear you"

Corporate PR phrase detected. Product mentally blacklisted

[-] ace_garp@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago

Muzei - a free wallpaper changer on f-droid

It has many sources for images, like NASA APOD, masterpieces, NatGeo, Ghibli and others.

https://search.f-droid.org/?q=Muzei&lang=en

load more comments (1 replies)

50/50 cut is borderline predatory. It should be 30/70. It feels like marques is so out of touch with common people.

[-] apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month 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.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] moitoi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 1 month ago

See these people as entertainment and not as reviewers, influencers. They are not more than entertainment companies.

Secondly, I don't see him as the dev of the app. I don't know which company dev it and he put his name on it. This brings us to the cut. 50 artist, 25 him, 25 dev company. Without him, the dev company has no chance.

If I'm looking my definition, it looks like a scam.

[-] Sensitivezombie@lemmy.zip 23 points 1 month 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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] cley_faye@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago

"curated wallpapers" including random generated stuff, and "shares profits" on a 50/50 basis, for a shitty app developed by what looks like three fivers in a trench coat.

[-] Lojcs@lemm.ee 18 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I don't understand why the internet is unable to say "I don't like this app, so I won't pay for it" rather than "I don't like this app, so you're a bad person". Hundreds of people raging over and catastrophising something they never bought or even heard of until now.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] cmgvd3lw@discuss.tchncs.de 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

New "LOOK I AM RICH" app.

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2024
319 points (93.2% liked)

Technology

59179 readers
2180 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS