If you open (on your desktop) Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, you can edit your email notifications settings, but obviously not your mobile settings.
If you open your mobile app, however, why are the email settings not available and only mobile notifications can be edited? Wouldn't users prefer the convenience of editing all their notifications in one place?
This question is probably beginning to get out of date as some of the key mobile apps mentioned are now providing the ability to turn off email notifications via their mobile app:
However it's interesting that not all of these key mobile apps are providing that functionality (examples below do not provide the ability to turn off email notifications):
With users now spending more time consuming media and information through mobile devices (http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/21/majority-of-digital-media-consumption-now-takes-place-in-mobile-apps/), I can't imagine users wanting to change devices / go to their desktop to change an email notification setting. Users are beginning to expect on-demand action and results and that trend doesn't look like changing any time soon (http://www.businessinsider.com/the-on-demand-economy-2014-7?IR=T).
With popular apps such as Facebook and Pinterest now giving the ability to control email notifications, other apps that are providing a fragmented experience on how notifications are controlled will now create a frustrating user experience by needing to change devices for a simple setting adjustment.
I would argue it with different types of user scenarios.
On the mobile platform you are "on the road" with a limited amount of screen space and more essential, limited amount of time. So, people may not be concerned very often with having all setting functionality available every time.
On the other side on the desktop, you have a bigger screen, you sit in front of your computer. So you could assume, that the user in front of the desktop has more time to focus, or to put it in another way, has more time for more specific tasks.
Two Words: Different Devices
Example: I wear spectacles when you don't. This is like configuring my eyes with glasses to get the same input as yours when looking at the same thing.
My eye configuration won't suit you and yours won't suit mine.
For the sake of argument, there may be a provision given for configuring the settings of your desktop from mobile but that would defeat the purpose of user experience as it's like writing something with your eyes closed.
