Google opened Gemini and Search to more apps with a Connected Apps platform

Google launched the preview of its Connected Apps Platform on October 28, a single way for app developers to bring their capabilities into both Gemini and Google Search. Connected apps let users link third-party services and take actions, such as designing a flyer in Canva or building a playlist in YouTube Music, as TechCrunch describes it.

For developers, the pitch is to build once and reach users in both places. You integrate with a cloud-hosted MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, or Android MCP using the AppFunctions APIs. Then you use the Google Connected Console to register, test and submit the app. Before review you choose whether it goes live in Search, the Gemini app or both. After launch you can track traffic, latency and error rates, and keep control of your brand, including verified logos and authenticated accounts.

Google says it has launched more than 50 Connected Apps across Search and Gemini, covering areas from productivity and event ticketing to health and fitness. Adobe, Experian, Localiza and Peloton are live in Gemini, and those apps come to Search in the coming weeks. Calm is a new partner that will launch on both. TechCrunch notes Search currently has fewer integrations, such as Instacart, Canva, YouTube Music and Yahoo Fantasy Football.

Access is limited. TechCrunch reports the preview is in beta for developers in the US who sign up for a waitlist, and Google did not say when it will be more broadly available. Google's own post says access opens in phases, with more developers, markets and Google products added over the coming months.

Why it matters: if people increasingly use services through an AI assistant instead of opening individual apps, being listed there becomes a distribution channel. TechCrunch compares it to how SEO helped companies show up in search rankings, and notes ChatGPT and Meta's Muse have their own takes on the idea. The use of MCP also means work on an MCP server may carry over.

What to do: if you run a consumer app or service, read Google's connected apps documentation and join the preview waitlist, and consider whether an MCP server for your product is worth building.

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