[icebraining]

> My understanding is the app permission model never asks for network access, so all "apps" are effectively web clients with a fancy UI.

At least for Android, not exactly: they still have to require network access (android.permission.INTERNET), and you can check if they have done that in the Play Store (description → Read More → App permissions). What changed is that the Store won't explicitly ask you to confirm you're OK with it when installing.

In any case, typical native applications didn't have to ask for network access either, that didn't make them all effectively web clients. Many of the mobile apps I have installed don't rely on a central service.