A geo-distributed application is an app that spans multiple geographic locations for high availability, resiliency, compliance, and performance. It aims to withstand all types of cloud outages, including major incidents, and remain available and resilient even in the event of such outages. Geo-distributed apps help with compliance by ensuring that users' personal data can remain in the country/area of origin, addressing regulations like GDPR. Additionally, they help boost performance by providing a user experience comparable to one from a different region due to their ability to distribute data across multiple locations, reducing latency and improving overall performance.