He was also constrained by some of the history of the game. There have always been spells in D&D which are better or worse. It’s become a bit of a joke that the first spell taken by any wizard is Magic Missile. Why? Because it’s been one of the most useful 1st level spells for wizards since early D&D. So, into the spell book it goes, and it was very often the one spell a first level wizard memorized.
I’m just glad that the designers are willing to take a critical look at their own work and say, “you know what, this sucks, let’s fix it”.
If something requires an “app” and a connection to “the cloud” for basic functionality, don’t buy it. This sort of abandonment by the manufacturer will always happen. Maybe it will last longer. Maybe it will be next week. But once the company has your money, the last thing they want to do is to spend any of that money providing you with support.