The wallpaper app Panels — launched by popular tech reviewer MKBHD — is being discontinued. On December 31, 2025, the app will officially be shut down after just over a year in operation.
A brief background: What was Panels
Panels was released in September 2024, as a curated wallpaper-app where users could download high-resolution wallpapers featured in MKBHD’s tech videos. The goal was to give fans access to the visually striking wallpapers they saw on phones and make it easier for them to get the same look.
At launch, the app offered a paid subscription (originally around US $11.99/month or US $49.99/year) for full access. This sparked significant backlash — many felt paying for wallpapers was unreasonable since wallpapers are widely available for free online. Critics also pointed to aggressive data-tracking permissions and intrusive ads when using the free tier
In response to user feedback, the app’s team reduced the subscription price and improved the free-user experience: fewer ads, optional ad-based downloads for some wallpapers, and more transparent privacy disclosures.
Why the shutdown — what went wrong
In his announcement, MKBHD acknowledged that despite early interest, Panels never grew into the vision he had hoped for. The primary reason cited was a change in the development team earlier this year. The new team structure failed to deliver on the long-term roadmap, and they couldn’t find the “right collaborators” to sustain development.
Though Panels had enjoyed some early success — ranking top in the Photos category on both iOS App Store and Google Play, and seeing over two million wallpaper downloads — the app struggled to build a steady paying user base. That made long-term sustainability unfeasible.
From the start, many users had balked at paying for something they could get for free. Even after improvements, the reputation damage from the initial pricing model and privacy concerns appears to have lingered.
What happens now — for users, for the code
- The app will be removed from Google Play Store and Apple App Store on December 31, 2025.
- Active subscriptions will be automatically canceled. Users who had paid annual subscriptions will receive prorated refunds
- Users can keep any wallpapers they already downloaded or purchased. Downloads of wallpapers from Panels will be available until the shutdown date.
- After shutdown, all user data stored by Panels will be deleted.
- The codebase underlying Panels will be released as open-source under the Apache 2.0 license — scheduled around early January 2026 — allowing developers or the community to fork or build upon the app.
What this says about fan-driven apps and influencer-backed ventures
Panels’ shutdown underscores some important lessons about apps launched by influencers or content creators:
- Even a strong personal brand — like MKBHD’s — doesn’t guarantee success for a product. A loyal audience does not always translate to paying customers.
- Pricing and perceived value matter a lot: asking users to pay for something widely available for free online can trigger backlash.
- First impressions — especially around pricing and privacy — can leave a lasting impact even after fixes are made.
- Sustainability requires not just initial enthusiasm, but consistent users, a dedicated team, and a viable long-term plan.
In the end, what started as a passion project — giving fans easy access to attractive wallpapers — turned out to be “niche, but not sustainable.” TechCrunch
