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Please help me figure out the meaning of the word "underlying" in the following sentence:
After the underlying app platform appeared on a well-known TV show, a police officer reached out to the developer to ask about implementing the system in their department.
For some context, the said platform became much more popular later and added more features. Does the word "underlying" mean "basic" or "initial" here?
It appears to be a reference to a program that implemented a capability of interest to the police officer. Since the excerpt refers to the application platform, but not to anything that uses it, the thing that uses the application platform as a foundation cannot be discerned from the context.
