MKBHD’s wallpaper app Panels is shutting down

Tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, oregon MKBHD, announced connected Monday that his telephone wallpaper app Panels is shutting down.

Fans had precocious hopes for Brownlee’s foray into app development, fixed his estimation arsenic an eagle-eyed tech reviewer who has amassed much than 20 cardinal followers connected YouTube. He’s truthful influential that immoderate blamed his commentary connected Humane AI and Fisker for those companies’ eventual failures (we deliberation the existent contented is that you shouldn’t rise $230 million if you person nary product). Yet from the clip Brownlee launched Panels successful September 2024, the app struggled to find an assemblage of its own.

“We knew it was niche, but we made mistakes successful making our archetypal app, and ultimately, we weren’t capable to crook it into the imaginativeness I had,” Brownlee said successful an unlisted YouTube video. In a blog post, helium added that “the constitution of the improvement squad changed,” and helium was incapable to find the close collaborators to turn the app.

Brownlee was inspired to make Panels due to the fact that erstwhile helium posts video reviews of phones, tablets, and computers, fans ever constituent retired however stunning his wallpapers and fastener screens are. When helium first announced the app, helium pointed retired that if you benignant “where does mkbhd…” into Google, 1 of the archetypal suggestions is “… get his wallpapers.”

Panels partnered with artists to merchantability distinct, high-resolution wallpapers, which users could entree astatine a outgo of $50 per year, oregon $12 per period (the artists got a chopped of those payments). But Brownlee couldn’t flooded the situation of trying to make a paying marketplace for thing that consumers are not accustomed to paying for — it’s easier to conscionable propulsion an representation from the internet, oregon instrumentality a cute photograph of your dog.

Thanks to Brownlee’s stature, Panels ranked #1 connected the iOS and Google Play charts for photos apps during its motorboat month. The app couldn’t prolong that momentum.

According to the app quality steadfast Appfigures, Panels reached astir 900,000 beingness downloads and $95,000 successful user spending crossed iOS and Android. Last month, the app lone received 3,000 downloads and $500 successful user spending, dipping excessively debased to fertile connected U.S. app stores.

Per Panels’ ain disclosure, users downloaded much than 2 cardinal wallpapers from the app.

Panels volition statesman to refund users with progressive yearly subscriptions erstwhile the app officially shuts down connected December 31, 2025. However, Panels’ blog station outlines ways for customers to get their wealth backmost quicker. After the app shutdown, Panels says each idiosyncratic information volition beryllium deleted, and the app codification volition beryllium unfastened sourced truthful different developers tin physique connected it, if they truthful desire.