(1) (
Distributed
APP) An application that runs in a distributed computing environment. See
distributed processing.
(2) (
Decentralized
APP) An application that interacts with a blockchain-based "smart contract." In practice, the dApp that the user interacts with (client side) may not look much different than any software application. The difference is that the server side is a smart contract program residing on Ethereum or similar blockchain. See
smart contract,
Ethereum and
StateOfTheDapps.
The Decentralized App (dApp)
The dApp comprises the client software in the computer or mobile device as well as the smart contract on the blockchain node.