Google opens Gemini and Search connected apps to outside developers

Google has opened its Connected Apps Platform to outside developers, TechCrunch reports. A business can now build an app that Gemini and Google Search can call to complete a task for a user, submit it to Google, and track how it performs once it is live.

What shipped

• The platform is a public preview, in beta, for U.S. developers who sign up for the waitlist. Google did not share when it will open more broadly.

• Developers connect through a cloud-hosted MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, or through Android MCP using the AppFunctions APIs.

• Registration, testing and submission run through the Google Connected Console.

• Each app can be made available in Search, in the Gemini app, or in both.

• Once an app is live, developers can track traffic, latency and error rates, and keep control of their verified logos and authenticated accounts.

Gemini already has over 50 connected apps, from partners including Adobe, Experian, Localiza and Peloton. Google says those apps come to Search over the next few weeks. Search has fewer today, among them Instacart, Canva and YouTube Music. Calm is a new partner and will launch on both.

Why this matters for visibility

Until now, connected apps came from partners Google worked with directly. With submissions open, any brand can try to become a service the model is able to use.

That adds a second layer to AI visibility. Being named in an AI answer is the first. Being the app Gemini calls to finish the job is the next. TechCrunch makes the comparison to SEO itself. When a user asks Gemini to design, order or plan something, a connected app can do it inside the conversation. A brand that exists only as a link has to hope the user leaves to click it.

What the source does not say

The announcement leaves open the questions that decide who gets picked:

• How Search or Gemini chooses between two connected apps that can do the same task.

• What Google checks before approving an app, and how long review takes.

• Whether the performance data shows which user requests triggered an app.

• When developers outside the U.S. can submit.

Google gives developers traffic, latency and error rates. That hints reliability is being watched. The source does not say whether it affects which app gets chosen.

What to do now

If users take actions in your product and you have a U.S. development presence, join the waitlist. Decide early whether Search, Gemini or both fits what your app does. The catalogue is short today, so an app that arrives early has less competition for the same task. Everyone else is not eligible yet. For them, being cited in AI answers stays the job for now.