Thin App

Why Trust Techopedia

What Does Thin App Mean?

A thin app is an application that relies on an outside server or hardware component for much of its functionality and code base maintenance. The idea of a “thin app” is based on the concept of “thin client” design which utilizes specific strategies related to a client/server architecture.

Advertisements

Techopedia Explains Thin App

Although thin apps have been possible ever since the development of servers in IT, they really took off in the era of virtualized and cloud-delivered systems. The thin app model makes sense in these systems, because so much of the data and other resources are stored by the vendor and delivered to a customer or client over the web. With that said, it makes sense to house a lot of the application’s functionality on the server side, rather than the client side. Much like cloud services in general, a thin app model means the end user does not have to do as much with the application, for example, working with a database or installing a program.

Advertisements

Related Terms

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.