Google has opened a preview of its Connected Apps Platform, a way for services to appear inside the Gemini app and Search. Search Engine Roundtable noted the launch on 29 October. We read Google’s own developer page for this article. We could not open TechCrunch or 9to5Google, so what they report is taken from search summaries and is labelled as reported.
What Google’s page says
According to Google’s page, the platform lets developers bring their apps and services into Google products such as the Gemini app and Search. Users can then reach their own live account context and complete real-world actions inside a conversation. A user links the app once and can use it from applicable Google products afterwards.
The page describes two routes. The first is a remote server using the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard, with optional interactive interfaces built with MCP Apps. Google also points to an OAuth 2.1 guide so the Gemini app can act on a user’s behalf. The second is Android MCP, using Jetpack AppFunctions, where actions run on the device. During the preview, developers register tools, view usage and submit apps for review in Google Connected Console, and must apply to join.
What reports add
TechCrunch and 9to5Google, as summarised in search results, put the announcement on 28 October. They say the preview is in beta for developers in the US, opens in phases over the coming months, and that apps already live in Gemini are expected to reach Search over the next few weeks. One summary cites more than 50 existing connected apps, including Adobe, Dropbox, Instacart, OpenTable and Ticketmaster. We have not verified these figures, and sources differ on whether signup is open or a waitlist.
Our view
This is our opinion, not Google’s position. Until now, most AI search advice has been about being cited in an answer. Connected Apps points to a second goal: letting an assistant do something for the user, such as book, check an order or look up an account. For a business with logins, bookings or orders, the path to visibility may include a connection as well as a well-written page. For a publisher with no account features, little changes yet.
Be cautious. Search availability, countries and ranking or selection rules for apps have not been published in the sources we read. Nothing here shows that a connected app improves how a site ranks or is cited.
What to do
- Decide whether your service has an action users would want inside a chat, such as a booking or order status.
- If it does, ask your developers whether you already have an API and an OAuth sign-in that could support an MCP server.
- Read Google’s page and apply for the preview only if you can commit developer time.
- Keep your web pages accurate. Assistants still read them. See our AEO and GEO playbook.
- Watch the commercial side of AI Mode too, covered in Google Ads in AI Overviews and AI Mode.
