Google Opens a Preview for Building Connected Apps in Search and Gemini

Google has opened a preview of its Connected Apps Platform, a single route for more developers to build apps that run inside Google Search and the Gemini app. Until now, Connected Apps came from partners Google announced itself, for tasks such as ordering groceries or making playlists. Announcing the platform on 28 October, Chips Mistry, group product manager for Search, and Mai Lowe, group product manager for the Gemini app, wrote that developers integrate through a cloud-hosted MCP server, or Android MCP using the AppFunctions APIs, then register, test and submit the app in a new Google Connected Console, choosing before review whether it goes live in Search, Gemini or both. Once live, the console reports traffic, latency and error rates. Google says access is opening in phases, with more developers, markets and Google products over the coming months.

A Connected App lets someone complete a task with your service from inside Google, so it matters only to businesses that people transact with, such as booking, ordering, ticketing or a SaaS product, and not to sites whose value is the content on the page. Google’s help page also limits the audience: in Search, Connected Apps currently run only in AI Mode, in the US and in English, and a searcher needs an account with the service, linked to their Google Account, before the app can act for them, though AI Mode offers the link when a request calls for it. If you run that kind of service, the preview sign-up is the place to start. Building one is real engineering work, and Google has published no figures on how many people add or use Connected Apps. A content site has nothing to build for it yet.

Sources

• Build and manage Connected Apps in one place, Google
• Connected Apps Platform, Google for Developers
• Use and manage Connected Apps in Search, Google Search Help
• You Can Now Build Apps For Google Search: Connected Apps Platform, Search Engine Roundtable