&gt; Where the data resides is not a distinction between web apps and native apps.<p>Huh? The data is only accessible to native app after you have installed the app on a device. If you only ever use your own one desktop, then it&#x27;s probably hard for you to see this. Can you even try to imagine that you cannot just install arbitrary native app on let&#x27;s say, your friend&#x27;s device to access your data? But you can easily &quot;install&quot; a web app, since technically it&#x27;s just a website like this one.<p>&gt; What do you mean with this?<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;nolanlawson.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;06&#x2F;30&#x2F;safari-is-the-new-ie&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;nolanlawson.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;06&#x2F;30&#x2F;safari-is-the-new-ie&#x2F;</a><p>&gt; However, one advantage that native apps have when it comes to accessing cloud data, is that you can still access and update that data even when you have no connection to the internet.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;developers.google.com&#x2F;web&#x2F;updates&#x2F;2015&#x2F;12&#x2F;background-sync?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;developers.google.com&#x2F;web&#x2F;updates&#x2F;2015&#x2F;12&#x2F;background...</a><p>&gt; True, but web apps will always be removed from the underlying OS&#x27;s &quot;metal&quot; by at least one degree, no?<p>Not always now that Web Assembly will be implemented by browsers. (Not to be confused with &quot;asm.js&quot;, see <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;WebAssembly" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;WebAssembly</a>)