diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index c2f5bc5a22a6..31fcee1e9fbf 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -3911,6 +3911,7 @@ version = "0.6.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "cargo_metadata",
+ "re_error",
  "wasm-bindgen-cli-support",
 ]
 
@@ -4167,6 +4168,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "web-time",
  "wgpu",
  "wgpu-core",
+ "wgpu-hal",
  "winit",
  "zip",
 ]
@@ -4374,6 +4376,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "re_analytics",
  "re_build_build_info",
  "re_build_web_viewer",
+ "re_error",
  "re_log",
  "thiserror",
  "tokio",
@@ -6009,9 +6012,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wgpu-hal"
-version = "0.16.0"
+version = "0.16.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "41af2ea7d87bd41ad0a37146252d5f7c26490209f47f544b2ee3b3ff34c7732e"
+checksum = "74851c2c8e5d97652e74c241d41b0656b31c924a45dcdecde83975717362cfa4"
 dependencies = [
  "android_system_properties",
  "arrayvec",
diff --git a/crates/re_build_web_viewer/Cargo.toml b/crates/re_build_web_viewer/Cargo.toml
index 9481cdc695f8..0dc924258c36 100644
--- a/crates/re_build_web_viewer/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/re_build_web_viewer/Cargo.toml
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ all-features = true
 
 
 [dependencies]
+re_error.workspace = true
+
 anyhow.workspace = true
 cargo_metadata = "0.15"
 wasm-bindgen-cli-support = "0.2.86"
diff --git a/crates/re_build_web_viewer/src/lib.rs b/crates/re_build_web_viewer/src/lib.rs
index ae0d8b4bbbb4..6d4db4a613e1 100644
--- a/crates/re_build_web_viewer/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/re_build_web_viewer/src/lib.rs
@@ -108,13 +108,27 @@ pub fn build(release: bool, webgpu: bool) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         .join(format!("{crate_name}.wasm"));
 
     // wasm-bindgen --target web target_wasm_path --no-typescript --out-name target_name --out-dir build_dir
-    wasm_bindgen_cli_support::Bindgen::new()
+    if let Err(err) = wasm_bindgen_cli_support::Bindgen::new()
         .no_modules(true)?
         .input_path(target_wasm_path.as_str())
         .typescript(false)
         .out_name(target_name.as_str())
         .generate(build_dir.as_str())
-        .context("Failed to run wasm-bindgen")?;
+    {
+        if err
+            .to_string()
+            .starts_with("cannot import from modules (`env`")
+        {
+            // Very common error: "cannot import from modules (`env`) with `--no-modules`"
+            anyhow::bail!(
+                "Failed to run wasm-bindgen: {err}. This is often because some dependency is calling `std::time::Instant::now()` or similar. You can try diagnosing this with:\n\
+                wasm2wat {target_wasm_path} | rg '\"env\"'\n\
+                wasm2wat {target_wasm_path} | rg 'call .now\\b' -B 20"
+            );
+        } else {
+            return Err(err.context("Failed to run wasm-bindgen"));
+        }
+    }
 
     // --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/crates/re_build_web_viewer/src/main.rs b/crates/re_build_web_viewer/src/main.rs
index d1cbbfb9c2df..8f887ab89bbf 100644
--- a/crates/re_build_web_viewer/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/re_build_web_viewer/src/main.rs
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ fn main() -> ExitCode {
     };
 
     if let Err(err) = re_build_web_viewer::build(release, webgpu) {
-        eprintln!("Failed to build web viewer: {err}");
+        eprintln!("Failed to build web viewer: {}", re_error::format(err));
         ExitCode::FAILURE
     } else {
         ExitCode::SUCCESS
diff --git a/crates/re_error/src/lib.rs b/crates/re_error/src/lib.rs
index e6f3e454a580..d3dc5b00a1c4 100644
--- a/crates/re_error/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/re_error/src/lib.rs
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 /// Format an error, including its chain of sources.
 ///
-/// Always use this when displaying an error.
+/// Always use this when displaying an error, especially `anyhow::Error`.
 pub fn format(error: impl AsRef<dyn std::error::Error>) -> String {
     fn format_impl(error: &dyn std::error::Error) -> String {
         let mut string = error.to_string();
diff --git a/crates/re_renderer/Cargo.toml b/crates/re_renderer/Cargo.toml
index 7f085fb27076..2cad0fadb3dd 100644
--- a/crates/re_renderer/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/re_renderer/Cargo.toml
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ static_assertions = "1.1"
 thiserror.workspace = true
 type-map = "0.5"
 wgpu.workspace = true
+wgpu-hal = "0.16.1"                                    # wgpu-hal 0.16.1 contains a critical fix for mobile devices: https://github.com/gfx-rs/wgpu/pull/3780
 
 # optional
 arrow2 = { workspace = true, optional = true }
diff --git a/crates/re_web_viewer_server/Cargo.toml b/crates/re_web_viewer_server/Cargo.toml
index 709b50246304..357dc2cb689d 100644
--- a/crates/re_web_viewer_server/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/re_web_viewer_server/Cargo.toml
@@ -66,3 +66,4 @@ re_analytics = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 [build-dependencies]
 re_build_build_info.workspace = true
 re_build_web_viewer.workspace = true
+re_error.workspace = true
diff --git a/crates/re_web_viewer_server/build.rs b/crates/re_web_viewer_server/build.rs
index 9183175f470a..97bde3a85bfa 100644
--- a/crates/re_web_viewer_server/build.rs
+++ b/crates/re_web_viewer_server/build.rs
@@ -45,6 +45,10 @@ fn main() {
         eprintln!("__ci feature detected: Skipping building of web viewer wasm.");
     } else {
         let release = std::env::var("PROFILE").unwrap() == "release";
-        re_build_web_viewer::build(release, is_tracked_env_var_set("RERUN_BUILD_WEBGPU")).unwrap();
+        if let Err(err) =
+            re_build_web_viewer::build(release, is_tracked_env_var_set("RERUN_BUILD_WEBGPU"))
+        {
+            panic!("Failed to build web viewer: {}", re_error::format(err));
+        }
     }
 }