Lots of apps implement this by autosaving to a different location from the manual save. So autosaves overwrite each other, but they don't overwrite the user's explicit choice. On loading a save, if they detect the autosave is more recent than the manual save, they offer the user the choice of which one to use.
Microsoft Word has had this since the 90s (with slightly different presentation from today, and definitely without sophisticated history tracking). Their computers used to fail (blue screen) much more regularly. It's not about web apps vs desktop.