A cloud application, or cloud app, is a software program wherein local and cloud-based components work together. A cloud app model depends on remote servers for accessing data through a web browser with a continuous Internet connection.
A cloud-based application must not be confused with a web application, though they have striking similarities. Both applications run on external servers or virtual servers and are accessed over the internet with a web browser.
In mobile software development, native apps run on one particular mobile device and are supposed to be downloaded and installed on the device. One of the challenges that native mobile app developers face is that they are required to create as many versions of the app to be able to run on as many different devices as they want it to run on. For instance, three different versions of the same native app have to be created to run it on Windows, iOS and Android.
