'MKBSD' frees all the wallpapers from tech YouTuber MKBHD's controversial $50/year app

[Orange]

Tech influencer Marques Brownlee, better known as MKBHD, is being stonewalled after recently launching a wallpaper app, called Panels. Available on both Android and iOS, the app promises a curated collection of high-quality digital wallpapers that reflect Brownlee’s eye for aesthetics.

 

Alas, the YouTuber has found himself in a pixel pickle because a paid wallpaper app—which he’s charging $11.99 per month or $49.99 per year for—is the last thing users want.

 

 

 

 

The free version of Panels requires users to sit through two 30-second ads to unlock each wallpaper, but the premium subscription has left many scratching their heads.

 

Several have pointed out that the “curation” includes a plain orange wallpaper in HD.

 

 

 

 

Adding fuel to the fire, cryptography expert Nadim Kobeissi quickly reverse-engineered the app, creating a tool called MKBSD that downloaded all the wallpapers from MKBHD’s Panels in under half an hour.

 

 

“Especially given MKBHD’s previous criticism of substandard companies and products, people justifiably got upset,” Kobeissi explains on GitHub, adding that millions have “trusted [Brownlee’s] editorial integrity over the past 15 years.”

 

Panels has also come under scrutiny for its data privacy practices. Users have voiced concerns about the app's potential to track location, usage data, and personal identifiers across other apps and websites. In response, Brownlee has promised to address these issues, pledging to reduce excessive data disclosures and decrease ad frequency in the free version. He clarified that the broad data collection practices were initially driven by ad network suggestions and assured users that the app would not request unnecessary personal information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

• https://www.absolutegeeks.com/article/featured/mkbhds-new-wallpaper-app-panels-sparks-controversy/ 
• https://www.androidauthority.com/mkbhd-to-fix-wallpaper-app-3484751/ 
• https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/24/tech-youtuber-mkbhds-panels-app-is-a-bit-underwhelming/ 
• https://x.com/kaepora/status/1838651348797063276

Image: MKBHD