Panels app shutting down Dec 31 — what went wrong and what’s next

Marques Brownlee’s Panels app — a subscription-based marketplace for smartphone wallpapers — is closing on December 31. The developers cite difficulties building a team that shared their vision and say they couldn’t continue development. Annual subscribers will receive refunds and any wallpapers downloaded through the app will remain usable after the shutdown.

In a conciliatory move, the team plans to publish the app’s source code so others can build on the project. That may let independent developers salvage features, create forks, or repurpose the code for new projects.

Why Panels struggled

• Panels launched with heavy ambition but faced backlash over pricing — many users balked at the subscription model for wallpapers, a product category that historically struggles to justify recurring fees.
• Users also complained about intrusive ads and demanding data-tracking permissions, which damaged trust. The developers attempted fixes — including a cheaper tier and improvements to the free experience — but the issues left a lasting impression.
• Building and scaling a creative marketplace requires both community buy-in and a sustainable developer team; the project’s maintainers say they couldn’t secure collaborators who matched their goals.

What happens to users and subscribers

• Annual subscribers will receive refunds for unused time.
• Any wallpapers already downloaded will still work on users’ devices after the app shuts down.
• The code release may enable community-driven alternatives, but there’s no guaranteed timeline for forks or successor apps.

Broader takeaways for app creators

The Panels story highlights several lessons for creators building paid consumer apps: price sensitivity matters, especially for non-essential digital goods; privacy and intrusive tracking can quickly erode trust; and community & contributor alignment is critical for long-term sustainability. Open-sourcing the code is a constructive next step, but it may be too late to restore goodwill with many former users.

For background reporting: Engadget coverage.

Discussion: Did you use Panels — and if so, did the subscription model or privacy concerns put you off? What would you want to see from any community forks or successor apps?