A software developer documented a specific usability issue with Google’s Calendar app: the inability to subscribe to calendar events using a direct URL link on an Android phone.
According to the post, when attempting to click a calendar link and add it to a phone running Android 17 with an updated Calendar app, the feature simply doesn’t exist. Google’s documentation reportedly confirms this limitation. The workaround required opening Google Calendar in desktop mode through a web browser on the phone, adding the calendar there, and waiting for it to appear in the native app.
The developer characterized this as a straightforward feature that should require only basic functionality—a button, text input field, validation, and save operation. Yet the app lacks this capability entirely.
However, the post positions this as symptomatic of a wider industry pattern rather than a Google-specific problem. Many companies, the author argues, build incomplete apps to secure a permanent homescreen presence and boost user engagement metrics that influence company leadership compensation and performance goals.
The fundamental challenge with native apps, according to the post, stems from their historical difficulty in updating. Adding new features or pages requires testing across thousands of device configurations before distribution to users—a process far slower than web updates. This constraint, the author suggests, has essentially forced app developers to pull new functionality from remote resources dynamically, “reinventing the Web browser” in the process.
The post acknowledges that some features remain app-exclusive (though browsers are catching up), and that homescreen icons and offline functionality provide genuine value. Yet the conclusion remains critical: if companies choose to build apps, they should complete them fully rather than leaving core features unimplemented and forcing users back to web browsers for essential tasks.
Comments on Hacker News and Mastodon largely corroborated the frustration, with one respondent noting that Google software “only comes in two states: deprecated and not yet ready.”
Key facts
- Google Calendar app cannot subscribe to calendar events using direct URL links on Android phones
- The required workaround involves using Google Calendar in desktop mode through a web browser
- The post argues this reflects a broader pattern of incomplete app development across the tech industry
- Apps face inherent challenges in updating functionality compared to web browsers
- Many companies prioritize app presence for engagement metrics rather than feature completeness