What Are Decentralized Applications? At its core, a decentralized application (dapp) is a software application that operates on a peer-to-peer network, such as a blockchain, rather than being hosted on a single central server. dapps are designed to be open-source, with their backend code running on a decentralized network. This ensures that dapps are resistant to censorship and fraud, as they do not rely on a central point of control.