this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2024
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 113 points 2 months ago (4 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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 33 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] T156 10 points 2 months ago

Or even a market that let you just buy individual wallpapers as you want them, like how you used to be able to buy individual tracks in itunes instead of a whole album.

A subscription model is a bit silly.

[–] ichbinjasokreativ 31 points 2 months ago

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

[–] spongebue 20 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] atrielienz 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

And Ringback tones too. For when people called you, so they could listen to your favorite song instead of the ring of the phone while waiting for you to pick up.

[–] spongebue 5 points 2 months ago

I forgot about that! And most songs sound like ass when you hear it over a phone, especially before whatever they did in the last decade to make voice calls more clear

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Back in the day people paid for ringtones, wallpapers, etc. Dumbest thing ever were 'ringbacks' where you paid to have a song or something play when people called you. So the people buying it didn't even hear it, they just forced other people to listen to a shitty low fidelity garbled mess of a song they liked while you waited for them to pick up the phone.