Google has opened the preview of its Connected Apps Platform, a unified way for outside app developers to bring their capabilities directly into Search and the Gemini app, the company announced on its official blog. The announcement, authored by search product manager Chips Mistry and Gemini App product manager Mai Lowe, marks Google's most concrete step yet toward turning its AI assistants into third-party app platforms.

The move matters because it changes Gemini and AI Mode from closed assistants into surfaces where external services can transact on a user's behalf — ordering groceries, booking tickets, or pulling fitness data without leaving the conversation. Coverage from Search Engine Journal, Gadgets 360, and Techgenyz over recent days confirms the preview is now open, and developers can sign up through Google's developer site. The launch also lands in the middle of the latest AI developments reshaping how assistants handle commercial tasks, as every major platform races to host third-party services inside chat.

Build Once, Reach Two Surfaces

The core pitch is a single integration that reaches users across both Search and the Gemini app. According to Google, developers integrate with a cloud-hosted MCP server or Android MCP using the AppFunctions APIs, then use the Google Connected Console to register, test, and submit their app.

MCP — the Model Context Protocol, an open standard for connecting AI models to external tools and data — has rapidly become the industry's default integration layer, and Google building its app platform on top of it signals how central the protocol has become. Before review, developers choose whether their app goes live in Search, the Gemini app, or both.

Once live, the console exposes operational metrics including traffic, latency, and error rates. Google also emphasized brand control: developers keep verified logos and authenticated accounts, so users can see exactly which service is acting inside the assistant.

50+ Apps Already Live

Google says more than 50 Connected Apps are already live between Search and Gemini, spanning categories from productivity and event ticketing to health and fitness. Integrations with Adobe, Experian, Localiza, and Peloton are live for users in Gemini, with those same apps arriving in Search over the coming weeks. A new Calm integration is also planned across both surfaces.

Google frames the category around routine tasks: from ordering groceries to making playlists, Connected Apps in Search and the Gemini app are designed to make everyday jobs faster. Recent coverage from Android Central and 9to5Mac highlighted a Strava integration that turns workout data into personalized running insights inside Gemini — an example of the pattern Google is betting on, where a specialist app's data becomes conversational without the user ever opening the app itself.

The partner list shows Google curating for high-intent, everyday tasks rather than novelty. Fitness, meditation, credit monitoring, and car rentals are the kinds of recurring services where an assistant that can act — not just answer — has obvious value, and where Google can differentiate its assistant from chat-only rivals.

A Phased Rollout

Google is opening access in phases and says it will add more developers, markets, and Google products over the coming months. The company has published documentation and a signup at developers.google.com/connected-apps, and maintains help center pages listing every Connected App users can currently access in Search and Gemini.

The phased approach mirrors how Google has historically scaled new search features, but the stakes here are different. With AI Mode and Gemini increasingly answering queries directly, third-party apps give Google a way to keep commercial activity — and its ad business — inside its own assistant experience as traditional blue-link traffic evolves. Rivals are moving the same direction: OpenAI has been expanding app and commerce integrations inside ChatGPT, and Amazon has enabled purchases inside Alexa+ conversations.

What Developers Should Watch

For developers, the practical questions are economics and reach: Google has not yet detailed revenue-sharing or how apps surface in rankings within AI Mode and Gemini. The console's early metrics — traffic, latency, errors — suggest Google is treating reliability as a first-class requirement for apps that act on a user's behalf.

The broader significance is structural. As AI assistants become the interface for search and commerce, the platforms that host third-party capabilities will set the terms — much as mobile app stores did a decade earlier. With the Connected Apps Platform, Google is staking its claim early, using an open protocol to attract the developer ecosystem it needs to keep Gemini and AI Mode at the center of that shift.

For more context on where AI assistants are heading, our coverage of Google's Gemini developments tracks the platform as it evolves.

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