Announced October 28, 2026, the Connected Apps Platform lets developers bring their apps' actions into Google Search's AI Mode and the Gemini app through MCP — with a Connected Console to register, test, and ship, starting with U.S. developers.
2026-10-31 · by Moe Ameen
On October 28, 2026, Google launched its Connected Apps Platform in preview — what it calls a unified way for developers to bring their apps directly into Google Search's AI Mode and the Gemini app. Robby Stein, VP of Product for Google Search, said on X that Google "just opened the public preview." Connected apps let a user link a third-party service once and then take actions inside it from within Google's AI — designing a flyer in Canva, building a playlist in YouTube Music, ordering through Instacart — without leaving the conversation. Google introduced connected apps in Gemini and Search earlier in 2026; this platform formalizes that door and opens it to developers.
Technically, apps connect through a cloud-hosted MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, or through Android MCP built on the AppFunctions APIs. An MCP server reaches Gemini and Search users on web, Android, and iOS; Android MCP reaches Gemini users on Android only. Developers register, test, and submit through the Google Connected Console, choosing whether each app appears in Search, the Gemini app, or both, and listing the capabilities users will see. Google reviews and tests each app before it goes live and can reject ones it can't fully verify; its policy bars apps from referencing other tools or writing "overly broad or deceptive" capability descriptions to win selection.
Google says it has launched more than 50 Connected Apps across Search and Gemini so far, spanning productivity, ticketing, health, and fitness. In the Gemini app, partners including Adobe, Experian, Localiza, and Peloton are already live alongside Google's own services; those integrations are coming to Search "in the coming weeks," and a new Calm integration is planned for both. Reporting from TechCrunch and Search Engine Journal notes the preview is open first to developers in the U.S., in English, with Search connected apps live in the U.S. Google says it is opening access in phases and will add more developers, markets, and products over the coming months.
One behavioral detail matters for how it feels: in AI Mode, when a task maps to an app you've used before, the tool may default to that app, and you can switch to a different one or pick from a list after a general search. Confirm current availability and capabilities on Google's developer pages, since the preview is new and expanding.
Read Connected Apps for what it is and the creator move is clear. This is Google wiring actions into its AI, and unless you're shipping an app with a transaction behind it, the thing that still decides whether Google's AI mentions, recommends, or sends anyone to you is unchanged — whether you're the genuinely useful, on-brand source its answer pulls from. AI Mode already fans each question into sub-queries you never see, so the durable lever is breadth of honestly useful content plus owned channels Google can't sit between you and.
That's where [Kompozy](/) fits. Point it at one source — a product, a customer question, a topic — and it generates a full answer-shaped set under one [Persona Brief](/glossary/persona-brief): a Blog Article written as a direct answer to a specific question (the format AI Mode's longer queries pull from), an Email Newsletter to a list no algorithm gates, plus the native social set — persona video, brand-exact [Carousel Posts](/glossary/hyperframes), Photo Posts, and Quote Graphics — so one answer shows up across eight social platforms plus your blog and email. Run it on [Autopilot](/glossary/autopilot) behind a per-post review gate and you build the footprint that earns the mention, not just a line in an app picker. For the strategy, see [generative-engine optimization](/glossary/generative-engine-optimization) and our reporting on [how AI Mode queries are changing](/news/google-ai-mode-query-behavior-shift).
It's a developer platform, launched in preview on October 28, 2026, that lets businesses bring their apps' actions directly into Google Search's AI Mode and the Gemini app. Users link a service once and can then act inside it from the conversation — designing in Canva, ordering from Instacart, playing music in YouTube Music. Apps connect through a cloud-hosted MCP server or Android MCP and are submitted via the Google Connected Console.
Not yet. Google describes it as a preview opening in phases. Reporting from TechCrunch and Search Engine Journal says access is first available to developers in the U.S., in English, with Search connected apps live in the U.S. and more developers, markets, and Google products to be added over the coming months. Confirm current eligibility on Google's developer pages.
Indirectly at best. Connected Apps governs which app Google's AI invokes to take an action, not which sources it cites in an answer. If you don't have a transactable app to expose, your visibility in AI Mode and Gemini still depends on being a genuinely useful, well-known source — earned through broad, on-brand content and owned channels, not an app listing.
Google hasn't published a fee for the preview, but the real cost is engineering: you build and host an MCP integration (or an Android MCP/AppFunctions one), register and test it in the Google Connected Console, and pass Google's review before it goes live. That's a product project, not a marketing task — which is why most creators will be users of connected apps rather than builders of them.