The "Works Better in the App" Trap
Google Calendar's Android app still can't subscribe to a calendar URL, and the official answer is "use a desktop browser."
Google Calendar on Android still can’t subscribe to a calendar by URL. The help page tells you to use a desktop browser. On your phone, in 2026. Open calendar.google.com in desktop mode instead, and the calendar shows up in the app. The capability exists. They just never wired it in.
This is the “works better in the app” trap in its purest form. Companies push you into the app for engagement metrics, build half of it, then send you back to the web the moment you need anything off the happy path. I’ve lost count of how often I’ve been told something is easier in the app, only to end up in a browser anyway.
There’s a historical reason apps end up like this. I built for Symbian and BlackBerry back in the day, and the core problem never changed: apps are hard to update. The eventual fix was having the app pull functionality from a remote resource. That’s a browser with extra steps.
The web already does homescreen icons, offline via service workers, even Bluetooth. An app is right for some products. But if you ship one, finish it. Half an app plus a help page pointing people at a desktop browser is the worst of both worlds, and users notice every time.