Google Opens a Preview of Its Connected Apps Platform So Developers Can Build Apps for Search and the Gemini App
We’re launching a preview of our Connected Apps Platform, giving developers a single place to build and manage apps for Search and the @GeminiApp. Plus, we’re rolling out a new set of Connected Apps from partners like @Adobe, @Calm, and @onepeloton to make your everyday activities more streamlined.
Context
It opens Google's two biggest AI surfaces to outside developers through a single MCP based path, a direct answer to app platforms inside ChatGPT and other assistants.
Connected Apps let people link outside services such as Instacart, Canva or YouTube Music to Search and the Gemini app, then ask the AI to take actions in them. Until now Google picked its partners. The Model Context Protocol, or MCP, is an open standard for exposing an app's tools and data to AI assistants, and AppFunctions is Android's version of it.
Deep dive
Google announced on Wednesday a preview of its Connected Apps Platform, which it describes as a single place for developers to build and manage apps for Search and the Gemini app. Alongside it, Google is rolling out new Connected Apps from partners including Adobe, Calm and Peloton.
According to Google's blog post, developers integrate through a cloud hosted MCP server or through Android MCP using the AppFunctions APIs, then use a new tool called Google Connected Console to register, test and submit their app. Before review they choose whether it goes live in Search, the Gemini app or both. Once live, developers can track traffic, latency and error rates and keep control of verified logos and signed in accounts.
Google says it has launched more than 50 Connected Apps across Search and Gemini. Integrations with Adobe, Experian, Localiza and Peloton are live in Gemini and will reach Search in the coming weeks, and Calm is coming to both.
Access is opening in phases. TechCrunch and The Verge report the preview is limited to developers in the US who join a waitlist, and Google has not said when it will open more widely.
What to expect next
Watch how quickly Google admits developers from the waitlist, which markets come next, and whether users actually reach for apps inside Search and Gemini rather than opening them directly. Review rules and how Google ranks competing apps in answers will matter for businesses. The move also sharpens the race with OpenAI and Meta to become the main place where people use other services through an AI assistant.