Cloud App

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What Does Cloud App Mean?

A cloud app is an application that operates in the cloud. Cloud apps are considered to be a blend of standard Web applications and conventional desktop applications. Cloud apps incorporate the advantages of both Web and desktop apps without absorbing many of their drawbacks. Similar to desktop apps, cloud apps can provide offline mode, rich user experience and instant responses to user actions. Similar to Web applications, there is no need to install cloud apps on a computer. Updates can be done at any time by simply uploading a newer version to the Web server. Cloud apps also store data in the cloud.

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Techopedia Explains Cloud App

Cloud apps do not consume hefty amounts of storage space in the user’s communication device or computer. If the user has a fast Internet connection, an efficient cloud app can offer the interaction of a desktop application together with the portability of a Web application.

Anyone with a browser, an Internet connection and a communication device can easily access and use cloud apps. Although the tools are present and could be revised in the cloud, the original user interface is present in the local device. The users are able to cache data locally, which enables full offline mode when required. Cloud apps, unlike Web apps, can be used offline even when there is no wireless access or during temporary Internet outage. In addition, cloud apps can offer some functions even when there is no Internet connection present for prolonged periods, for example, when camping in a remote wilderness.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.