Marques hired his father’s IT company to build the app. If he cared about delivering a great app, he would have hired a company that is experts in this. It’s just one big cash grab for him and his family
While I agree this backlash is absolutely warranted, I don't think it's fair to pull his family into it. Marques is 100% responsible for this app, whether his father or his best friend made it, Marques chose to market it on the reputation he built that is the very antithesis of this app. That being said, I'm still scratching my head wondering what the functional purpose of a mobile wallpaper manager even is lol, especially a poorly designed one that only bogs down phone performance to run in the background vs just downloading them 🤣
@@brnmln if MKBHD had any integrity at all, he would pull down that poor excuse of an app from the App Store, but he won’t because he doesn’t care less
Lets call a spade a spade, the app is crap. He must take the criticism and embrace it the same way he does when he reviews other competitors products, he is not exception. Does he give other competitors a "Break"?🙄🙄SMH.
@@ryoji4200 here you go again, diving in headfirst like a knight in shining fanboy armor. “Did you even watch the video??? Get real,” is the kind of argument you throw out when you’ve got nothing to stand on but blind loyalty. You can tell when someone’s got their favorite RU-vidr posters plastered on their wall because they rush in to defend greed like they’re getting a cut of those sweet subscription profits themselves. MKBHD is charging for digital wallpapers and pocketing half the money from the artists like he’s running some kind of tech-themed Monopoly game, and you’re over here acting like it’s noble.
@@ryoji4200 Yes. Most of us did. We're just not blind idiots sympathizing to scummy youtube personalities shilling privacy-invading, ad-riddled, over-costly spyware, just because "he's busy"; (aka. Completely out of touch with reality or anyone not part of the 1%.)
I am pleasantly surprised that he's his fair share of criticism too. Defending a blatant and lazy cash grab is definitely something I would expect from him, it's what he's used to from Apple anyway.
I don't assume the worst from him, but it is super tone deaf especially from someone who is supposed to represent and relate to us average users. Of course he's far beyond an average user at this point, but that's still part of his channel's draw. And you have done a great job for a while now telling people they don't need to constantly upgrade, save money with older phones because they are fine, etc. Most people don't even wanna pay for Netflix... subscribing to wallpapers is insane, add on the fact that today even 5 year old phones (as you have said) can take relatively good pictures, which can be used as wallpapers.
It leaked online & most of it IS shitty AI “art” though. & a lot of the “artists” are just his employees. The optics are bad. 👎 Garbage wallpapers for bloated money. To hell with that.
This guy is a hypocrite too! The problem is not the ads or the pricing, the problem is it is MKBHD who tried to launch something shady! The public placed their faith in him, believing he would always advocate for the truth.
Allllll your talkin' is missing the point. We ALL know the backstory. The only problem is his pricing. It makes no sense to pay the same amount for wallpapers that you're spending on Spotify. It's just egregious, and demonstrates that he's very disconnected from the financial hardship most people are experiencing today.
Nah, sometimes successful RU-vidrs need to be reminded that they can't get away with anything. Marques lost touch with reality and needed to get back to the ground.
I find it hypocritical to criticize others for basing purchases on promised future updates while then promoting your own app based on future content. The SD quality for two ads is disappointing, and the fact that the wallpapers are available unprotected by accessing the API which is so unfair for the artists
Marques knows with every tech idea there will always be a need for updates, but he want the average person to not buy something SOLELY for the purpose of the future promise/the main selling point. Also, this is an app for cool wallpaper if you don't like it don't buy it.
The idea of “not buying something based in future updates” thing doesn’t apply here. Out of the gate there is already content, it’s just that there’ll be even more content in the future. Would you say services like Spotify or Apple Music are bad then?
Be honest, Tailosive...if some rando made this app and MKBHD happened to review it, he would say it's expensive, poorly designed, and "you shouldn't buy something based on the promise of future updates." This is certainly not the end of his career. MKBHD is a legend. However, from him, this is a big slip. The social links on the Panels website don't even work. That is just bad quality and reflective of some level of thoughtlessness. We know you like him. We all like him. But if he is asking for people's money, he deserves honesty.
I don't know if you can put words into his mouth or decide on your own how he would review it. It sort of sounds like you would prefer if he adhered to that narrative, but I don't think you have the authority to say that's what his opinion would be.
@@POVwithRC nobody’s putting words in his mouth, just pointing out what’s painfully obvious. It’s not some ‘mystical narrative’-MKBHD’s brand is built on providing genuine reviews for the average consumer. You don’t need ‘authority’ to see the inconsistency here. I mean, if a random developer released a half-baked app with broken links, are you seriously saying MKBHD wouldn’t call that out? Come on, bro, you’re acting like we need a PhD in ‘Review Studies’ to figure this one out. Let’s not pretend like giving honest feedback is some wild new idea. MKBHD takes the L on this one.
this isn’t about the app being “a little poorly designed”. It’s about one of the biggest tech youtubers charging a subscription service something he’s spoken openly about against for something people can already get for free
Did you even look through the app? There’s tons of stuff on it…A lot of really gorgeous landscape shots for instance. It’s art. People pay money for art.
No. Bro spent like 15 years reviewing products, and in the tech industry altogether, had (and has) the power to destroy whole companies. Now he's done BS himself, NOT doing what he was preaching to all these other companies over the years. It's okay to call him out for it. It was a fat L and it's okay to say it.
It’s an L for sure. He’s listening to feedback though to provide a better product. If he was malicious he wouldn’t do that. People are really just out here for blood and wanting to discredit his 15+ years of reviews.
@@Ray03595 Didn't say he was malicious. Its just ivory tower mentality thats shown here. He GENUINELY thought what he offered was a good deal, so that tells me all about the person I needed to know. Honestly he should pull a Nikocado, delete the app and say it all was a social experiment.
I’ve never met anyone who paid for a wallpaper… just isn’t a thing unless these RU-vidrs make it seem like we should be… it’s like Samsung charging for “themes”… it’s ridiculous. Zone of Tech had theirs first I’m just saying.
It's almost like on a phone or tablet people assume you need an app for everything, and don't just search for an image and save it as they would on a PC or Mac 🤷🏻♂️
@@dftfire exactly… especially since on an 8inch screen… 8k resolution wallpapers doesn’t mean anything and just a marketing tactic to make it sound like it’s worth any money lol
6:40 although this is true its still morally wrong . now imagine if apple charge 90 to them and 10 to devs for in app purchases using your same logic devs earn zero money without access to apples ios users on app store so its fair to take 80percent of all earning for an app right ???? your logic is flawed . its about the amount of work thats done that matter the artists do majority of the work and mkbhd just slaps his name on it and calls it a day deffo not fair share
Stop caping for MKBHD. $50 for wallpapers is egregious. Intrusive ads constantly interrupting is unacceptable. Clearly selling your personal data on this blatant cash grab. Completely unnecessary given the amount of resources at his disposal.
It’s also hypocritical that Drew said that he should be free to speak his mind and criticize products positively or negatively, but when others do the same to him all of a sudden it’s a problem. 💀 Like what in the double standards is that?
Cashing in on their young, dumb fans that have more spare cash than sense. People my age are like: "Just right-click and save an image!" Gen-Z, OTOH, will spend money on this garbage blindly because they want to prove their devotion to their fake digital friend.
How about: GIVE THE BLOODY USER A BREAK WITH THESE BLOODY SUBSCRIPTIONS I'm so tired of people making bs excuses for blatant and lazy cash grabs. He couldn't even be bothered to add basic security features to the back end, meaning if you have literally 2 braincells and 2 minutes of time to write a python script you can download and store all these pictures for literally free. The bloody API doesn't even have basic token authentication, let alone an authorization scheme to block people form accessing it for free. LOL
Bad take. MKBHD doesn't get a free pass for promoting his own app that does the same things he has criticized other apps/tech has done before in his own reviews. Obviously no one is forced to download/use/buy the app but the principal of the matter still remains. Practice what you preach. If not, you better have a really good reason why or have a plan on how you are trying to improve the situation.
My brother in Christ, this is the most expensive wallpaper app I’ve seen, in my country it’s 69pln per month wich is double the Netflix. Final Cut Pro on iPad is less expensive then this app yearly and monthly. From what I’ve seen and even you showed other wallpaper app are way cheaper, but from what I seen it’s literally not true.
With his audience charging a single dollar for a monthly subscription would have made all those artists rich even splitting 50-50. SD download out of the box, with no need to Watch 2 (2!) ads. People would have subbed for sure and everyone would have been happy.
lol it was a shameless attempt at a blatant cash grab from a multi-millionare youtuber. With a crap product to boot, I guess that's what did it in the end. It's not like he released this super polished app with amazing curated artwork. He is being rightfully called out on it.
His actions warrant scrutiny, and those who support him should be prepared to justify their stance. The individual who once championed the common people appears to be a hypocrite.
Hindsight is 20/20. I feel he should’ve made a separate video focusing on panels and what it is now and what he hopes it to be in the future. By bolting it onto the iPhone 16 it just made the controversy worse.
Who. The. Fuck. Cares?? It’s his video and his platform… it was a good business move to speak on it in arguably one of the most highly viewed videos of the year.
@@RiqMoran Saying he is canceled though and ended his entire tech career with an app is way over the top. It's fine to critique a product, but that is way beyond that.
For $50 it’s a rich dude who’s already rich beyond most peoples dreams making a wallpaper app affordable only to other rich dudes. Comes across kinda elitist in a time when people need a break and things to be affordable. Feels gross.
If people keep asking you what that song is that you play in the background of your video's, would you launch another music streaming service? Don't even get me started on how people could use shazam same as people can use google lens to search after they made a screenshot of the wallpaper. Worst case scenario you get something similar looking, best case scenario you find one even better. Marq will bounce back, let us have our chuckle.
The issue with MKBHD for me is that he reviews tech based on “yearly upgrades” and if a phone does not get a significant ugrapde, the entire video of his is always full of crying about it. No normal person upgrades after 1 year. Some do, but they expect it to be a minor upgrade.
Agree! Odd how most of the tech creators were all like: "it's really bad how Android only used to give you a year or two of OS updates, glad to see some are moving to at least 5 years now" But also: "Come on guys, who keeps a phone for more than a year, two at most?" 😂😂
His brand has always been aesthetic and high attention to detail, releasing an unfinished app is just a bad look. And the promise that there would be more features coming for the premium subscription is also going a bit against his brand, don’t buy a promise for what a product will become. It is hardly the end of his career, the internet loves to be dramatic, but the launch is still a mess.
Nahh man, this is missing the point. Just because other apps or RU-vidrs do similar things, doesn't make it OK; harvesting data, excessive ads and a subscription model for WALLPAPERS????? I love MKBHD and will keep watching his content but this is tone deaf, out of touch and just a bad business decision. He doesn't deserve to be cancelled or whatever but it does need to be called out.
@@MrWarxheI see many like you making this argument, but how do we know that the wallpapers in the app aren't created using AI? Has Marques publicly said they do not allow them in the app, and they check all submissions to ensure they are human created? 🤔
Bro it’s a simple fix link the wallpapers to the artists not gatekeep it from your 20M subs to sell it off thru partnership and keep 50% of the cut from artists. Its straight up greed, over digital photos that no one cares about after a short time
I think the biggest problem people had were his famous “don’t buy a product of the promise of tomorrow, decide your purchase on what it is now” Didn’t apply here It’s unfinished yet he is realising it “full price” like the iPhone 16 I can see why people are pissed but it’s not that deep
The problem isn’t the app or the strategy, but the amount he is asking, the apps you showed were maximum 20 dollars per year, also he is taking 50 freaking percent.
I appreciate you standing up for him. The app is overpriced. The app has to have ads. Like you said, people who create custom art should be paid. I don’t think he deserves to be roasted and attacked like this. I don’t see myself paying for wallpapers, but if he wanted to fulfill the request people sent him, he simply provided a service. His career is what it is because HE EARNED IT BY WORKING HARD FOR YEARS! This is his first app. Give him time to listen to what people are saying then make improvements! Also, if you don’t like the app, you don’t have to use it.
You are not considering a huge factor. A lot of things he justifiably criticized in tech he applied himself in his app. People were expecting something to the level of his reputation, and to the level of his scrutiny when he reviews products. If it was some other guy nobody would give a fuck, it's a pretty standard app as you very much pointed out. But he's not. He is one of the most influential guy in tech. He can make or break the success of tech products. One would think that someone of his caliber going into the product side would be able to deliver something........better?
You either die a hero or you live long enough to become the villain. I like the guy but the price is ridiculous and he's taking 50% of other people's work (a lot of MKBHD employees who don't really have a choice)..
Well, for a lot of their "external artists", who submit their work to go in the app, I'd bet at least some of it is just AI generated. So people are paying for stuff they could just make themselves, for free
I guess Marques just got unlucky with the timing of when he announced his wallpaper app with MrBeast, Logan Paul, and KSI with the Lunchly debacle occurring around the same time
People are overreacting, this wallpaper app may be overpriced but, at the end of the day, he is a nice guy, you guys just want drama or someone to get cancelled.
"At long last, the hypocrisy..." There's no explanation for that thing launching on that state, specially when it "comes" from someone related to "reviewing" tech. Isn't much different to what happened with other products so he shouldn't be treated differently.
I think MKBHD can take the criticism and build from it to offer a more refined product over time…I’m sure he did the same with his tech videos as well if you go back far enough…so if you want cheaper prices, more variety, higher quality, less ads etc…give him and his team time to see what happens on version 2…he is into reviewing tech products not apps…he tried to support some of he subscribers request and it fell short so be it…I wonder if all the people who offer harsh criticism has any apps available for download?!…either way I think he deserves criticism like anyone else but also a chance to refine the app and help make it better for the public…thank for the video and I will support Tailosive as a new subscriber
Okay, I've started to read the comments and it just confirmed things for me: this guy's take is delusional. Marques made a mistake, and rightfully so he's getting backlash he deserves.
I guess that also means you don’t purchase from or use the services of Amazon or Disney or Apple or Samsung or Netflix, Walmart - very noble cause well done
@@pahaywood1992 I certainly don’t no,the only Apple service I pay for is iCloud storage and that is only £1/month.And I certainly don’t use Walmart as we don’t have it here in the UK 🇬🇧 Why do Americans assume that everybody else is in America? 🙄
Or vitamin supplements Or "coffee companies" Or energy drinks Or t-shirts Or plushies or figurines Or mattresses and pillows Or gaming chairs Or stuff like HelloFresh I swear some RU-vidrs are like a shopping channel thesedays 😂
