Google’s Connected Apps Platform is now open in preview, letting developers bring their service’s capabilities directly into Search and the Gemini app. Announced October 28, the platform gives developers a single integration path to reach high-intent users across both products at the moment they are searching or asking.
Update, November 1, 2026: Developers can now apply for access. Robby Stein, VP of Product for Google Search, said on X on October 29 that Google “just opened the public preview,” as reported by Search Engine Journal. Google’s Connected Apps policy also sets rules on how apps compete to be picked. Apps must not “deceive or influence the model into performing an adverse action or behavior; for example, using overly broad or deceptive capability descriptions to influence the model into selecting the Connected App over another Connected App,” and must not reference other tools or create new rules for when or how other tools should be used. Third-party advertising and promotional material are not allowed, although an app may include its own brand elements. Google reviews and tests each app before it is published, and for violations it can reject or suspend an app, remove it from the platform, or suspend or terminate the developer account.
How does the Connected Apps Platform work?
Developers connect their services through one of two paths: a cloud-hosted MCP server (MCP, or Model Context Protocol, is an open-standard protocol for letting apps talk to AI agents) or Android MCP via AppFunctions (Google’s Android-native MCP solution using the Jetpack AppFunctions SDK). Both paths use the AppFunctions APIs.
From there, developers use the Google Connected Console to register, test, and submit their app for review. Before submission, they choose whether the app goes live in Search, the Gemini app, or both. Once approved, developers can monitor traffic, latency, and error rates, and maintain brand identity with verified logos and authenticated accounts, according to Google’s developer documentation.
Connected apps themselves are not new: Search Engine Roundtable notes they arrived with Google’s Personal Intelligence features in Search and AI Mode. What is new is a platform that lets more developers submit their own. Google says it is opening access in phases and will add more developers, markets, and Google products over the coming months, per the October 28 blog post.
What can users actually do with Connected Apps?
According to Google’s support documentation, Connected Apps currently work inside AI Mode (Google’s conversational search interface) in the US, in English. Users link an app to their Google Account once; after that, they can take actions directly inside a search or conversation. Google’s help page gives these examples:
- Build a grocery cart from a recipe using a delivery app
- Create a custom playlist with a music app
- Draft a flyer or design with a creative app, then go to that app to finalize
After AI Mode completes a request, the user is redirected to the partner app to finish the task, for example to Instacart to check out, to YouTube Music to listen, or to Canva to download a design, per Google’s support documentation.
Which partners are live now?
According to Google’s blog post published October 28, more than 50 Connected Apps are already live across Search and Gemini, spanning productivity, event ticketing, health, and fitness. Integrations with Adobe, Experian, Localiza, and Peloton are currently live in Gemini. Google said these will also come to Search in the coming weeks, along with a new integration with Calm rolling out across both Search and Gemini.
What this means for AI-search visibility
A Connected App does not compete for a link position in results. Its functionality becomes part of the answer itself. In Hingewise’s reading, that is a different kind of presence from a ranked link.
Suppose someone asks AI Mode to build a grocery cart for a recipe. With a delivery app linked, AI Mode could build the cart inside the conversation and then send the user to the app to check out, as Google’s help page describes, instead of the user choosing from a list of grocery sites.
In Hingewise’s view, this represents a third layer of AI-search presence, distinct from classic SEO (being found via links) and AEO (being cited in an AI-generated answer). Here, your service’s functionality is embedded in the action the AI takes on behalf of the user. That is a structural shift, not just a new feature.
A few things the sources make clear that are easy to overlook:
- The platform is in preview, US-only, English-only, and phased. Most brands cannot join immediately.
- Users must actively connect an app to their Google Account. An unlinked app provides no action visibility, regardless of how well-built it is.
- Per Google’s support documentation, Google may default to the last app a user used for a certain task. In Hingewise’s view, that makes repeat use matter: the app a user chose most recently may be picked by default next time.
- The 50+ live apps are concentrated in productivity, ticketing, and health/fitness. Verticals not yet represented have a relatively open window now.
Before applying for Connected Apps Platform preview, check:
- Does your service offer a discrete, completable action (order, create, book, build) that maps naturally to a conversational query?
- Do you have a cloud-hosted MCP server or an Android app that can integrate via AppFunctions?
- Is your service available to US users with an account they can link to their Google Account?
- Can you meet Google’s brand identity requirements, including verified logos and authenticated accounts?
- Have you reviewed the OAuth 2.1 requirements for authorizing the Gemini app to act on behalf of users?
- Is your category already covered by one of the 50+ live apps, or is there a meaningful gap?
The main thing to watch: how quickly Google expands phased access beyond the current preview, and whether the user-controlled connection setting ends up favoring apps users link first or ones Google surfaces proactively by default.
Sources: blog.google, Search Engine Roundtable, Google Search Help, Google for Developers, all October 28, 2026.
This article was drafted with AI assistance from the sources cited above and checked against them before publishing. The "What this means for AI-search visibility" section is Hingewise's editorial analysis, built on the frameworks and positions we use in our GEO work. How we work: Editorial policy.