Mobile apps are indeed terrible most of the time. If you want to do anything else than consume content with them, you are very likely to waste time, since any random laptop would do much better.
But that's pretty much expected, those apps are simplified counterparts of the "traditional" software because they have to work with big fingers and low precision / fast speed requirement.
I think the vast majority of software actually doesn't have much point in its "mobile" form, it's even discutable why most of it was ever proposed as a valid endeavor.
But it's mostly a market driven thing because of the app stores. Devs wanted to make money from the mobile craze and thus spent a lot of time inventing/reproducing software for mobile.
In practice when you look at app stores statistics, there is little use of "real" software. Most of the successful apps are about consuming content or focus on supporting real world utility.
I have tried hundreds of mobile apps and as far as I'm concerned, most of them are a major waste of time.
I think the uses cases for the smartphone haven't changed much since the start: quick messaging (sms, emails, etc), navigation (GPS), quick fact gathering (web browsing) and good enough photography.
But since it has become a marker of social status, and has captured a ton of money, many have tried to bolt on more stuff to it.
If think that if your task requires more than 10 min on the phone, it's probably not something that you should be doing on the phone.
