Early on in computing the focus was entirely on functionality.   Computers had a programming interface (primitive to begin with) which enabled the programmer to give instructions to the Computer to perform the desire functions.   

To begin with those functions were calculations and manupulations of other Devices.   

Along came Gates and Jobs (with others) who had the idea of personalizing a Computer, thus the term, PC.   

The beauty and terror of this concept is that it expanded the market for Computers and developed a whole career path for software developers and hardware architects.   

The terror is that we became addicted to the PC and its offspring, the handheld Device.   

When computing was focused on accounting and mathematical computations, the results could be verified and thus the 'program' validiated.   

Since the designer of the software had a specific purpose in mind to serve a single client's need it was all clean and neat.   

However, when the number of clients increased and the required functionality expanded, there was less and less emphasis on functionality along with more and more focus on useability.   

This change in priorities of the developers paralleled a cultural shift away from substance toward style.   

So nowadays Apps are being developed by individuals to anticipate the user's desire for different, if not new, experiences.   

If I can use this analogy, inagine you are going to an outing where there is a single caterer handling all the food service for the event.   

Imagine that across the street there is another outing with multiple food vendors.   

You might be saying to yourself, "I think I am going across the street where I have more choices."

And there lies the motivation for Apps - more choices.   

So, what is wrong with more Apps?   

An App is a self-contained program which is installed on your Device to which you give control over your Device including access to everything on the Device.   

Think of it this way.   You have invited the App developer to live with you in your Device home.   

But you argue, "I like them.   I like what they enable me to do."

But 'they' have access to all your stuff and all you really know about them is that they make you feel good.   

Those who would trust App developers who make their App available for free are simply being Naive.   

That App developer needs Money.   If they don't get that Money directly from you they will get it indirectly from you.   

They will program popup Ads into the App.   They will sell your personal information.   And in the case of malware, they will hold you hostage until you buy virus removal software.   

As we see more and more corruption in the Social and Political realms we should realize our individual vulnerability to powerful forces who leverage themselves into our lives via the Apps we install on our Devices.   

You say, "do we have an alternative to Apps?" Not if you are addicted to higher and higher 'highs'.   

The Browser community has standards which enable and limit what HTML (application developer language) so that it is virtually impossible for a Browser application developer to take control of your machine.   Yes, you can download an App from a Browser, install it on your machine and give control.   But, if the App you are running on the Browser is a Web App, it is restricted from performing activitiees directly on your Device.   

So, obviously I am recommending that you stay within the confines of Browser Apps for your work and stay away from natively installed Apps.   

Here is another argument for staying away from Apps.   When an OS provider (Microsoft, Android, IOS) decides to change their OS in a fundamental way they can essentially break every App on your Device.   This could be 10's or hundreds of Apps that cease to work on your Device depending on your downloads.