> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.near.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # What are Web3 Apps? > Learn about Web3 applications (dApps) that leverage smart contracts and blockchain data to offer transparency, security, and user control over assets and data. Web3 Applications - also known as decentralized apps (dApps) - leverage [smart contracts](../smart-contracts/what-is) and blockchain data to offer **transparency**, **security** and **giving back control** to users over their assets and data. img NEAR simplifies building Web3 apps for the general public, making it easy to **interact** with different blockchains, while helping to **onboard users** that are not familiarized with crypto. *** ### Why Integrate NEAR Protocol with your App? Any application can benefit from integrating NEAR, including games, financial services, social platforms, and more. * **Easy Onboarding**: Users can create accounts using familiar methods such as email login. Furthermore, applications can cover all transactional costs for their users, so they never have to worry about handling crypto. * **Ownership**: Users have true ownership of digital assets within their accounts. Fungible Tokens can be used as reward systems, Non-Fungible Tokens can denote holdings, and wallets can represent digital identities. * **Fast, Cheap and Scalable**: Near’s efficient consensus mechanism and fee model make transactions cost effective for both users and developers. * **Security & Transparency**: All transactions and data on the blockchain is transparent and auditable, thus ensuring trust in the application’s behavior.