Google opens Connected Apps Platform preview: MCP apps inside Search AI Mode and the Gemini app

Google opened a preview of its Connected Apps Platform on 28 October 2026, giving developers one place to build apps that run inside AI Mode in Google Search and inside the Gemini app. An app connects through a cloud-hosted Model Context Protocol (MCP) server or through Android's AppFunctions, and is registered, tested and sent for review in a new tool called Google Connected Console. Google says access is opening in phases and has not named the markets the preview covers. On the user side, Google's Search Help page says connected apps in Search are currently available in AI Mode in the US, in English.

What Google announced on 28 October 2026

The announcement came in a post on Google's The Keyword blog by Chips Mistry, Group Product Manager for Search, and Mai Lowe, Group Product Manager for the Gemini app. Google describes the Connected Apps Platform as "a unified way for more app developers to bring their capabilities directly into Gemini and Search." Google's developer overview says that during the preview phase it offers self-service onboarding to the platform through Google Connected Console.

The post sets out the developer workflow in four steps. A developer integrates with either a cloud-hosted MCP server or Android MCP using the AppFunctions APIs. They then use Google Connected Console to register, test and submit the app. Before review, they choose whether the app goes live in Search, the Gemini app, or both. Once the app is live, Google says developers can track traffic, latency and error rates, and manage their brand identity, including verified logos and authenticated accounts.

Google also gave a count. It says it has launched more than 50 Connected Apps between Search and Gemini, in categories that include productivity, event ticketing, health and fitness. Integrations with Adobe, Experian, Localiza and Peloton are live for users in Gemini, and Google says it will bring them to Search "in the coming weeks". Google says it will also launch a new integration with Calm across both Search and Gemini.

On availability, the wording is deliberately open. Google says it is "opening access in phases" and will add more developers, markets and Google products over the coming months. Sign-up and documentation sit at developers.google.com/connected-apps.

Connected Apps Platform at a glance

The table below collects what Google's announcement, its developer documentation, its Gemini Help page and its Search Help page say about the platform today.

How a connected app is built, according to Google's developer docs

Google's developer overview says the platform lets apps and services reach users inside Google products "so users can access their personal live account context and complete real-world actions right in their conversations." A user links an app once, and after that can use it across the Google products where it is available. Google frames this as an "enable once and run Google-wide" model.

There are two technical routes. The remote MCP server is the one Google calls the recommended default. It works across Android, iOS and the web, and Google says a business with existing web APIs or an existing remote MCP server can build on them. The second route, AppFunctions, is Android's own MCP implementation. It runs on the device, which Google says suits apps that want tool execution to happen locally, and it is supported through the Jetpack AppFunctions SDK.

The MCP server guide breaks the work into four phases:

• Build: write clear server instructions that describe the domain and capabilities, add safety annotations to every tool (for example readOnlyHint for read-only queries and destructiveHint for actions that change state), and give each tool strongly typed schemas with detailed parameter descriptions. Optional UI metadata lets a tool return a branded, interactive widget that renders in a sandboxed iframe inside the conversation.
• Validate: run the server locally and test it with the open-source MCP Inspector tool.
• Deploy and test: host the server on a public HTTPS endpoint, on any cloud, then test it in Gemini Developer Mode, which has debugging tabs for the event log, tool schemas, simulated date, time and location, and authentication.
• Register: request access, then configure and submit the app in Google Connected Console.

Account linking runs on OAuth. Google's OAuth guide says it "highly" recommends OAuth 2.1 with PKCE, requires authorization server metadata discovery, and strongly recommends issuing refresh tokens so users do not have to re-link accounts. The console guide lists further prerequisites, including IP allowlisting and domain verification.

How people actually reach a connected app

This is where the story touches search visibility. The developer guide says a connected app can be triggered explicitly with "@" plus the app name, or by mentioning the app's name in the query, and that it then stays in context for relevant prompts in that session. Google's Search Help page adds that a person needs an account with the service and must link it to their Google Account before AI Mode can act on it. When a task finishes, the user may be sent to the app itself to complete it; the Help page gives Instacart checkout and a Canva design download as examples.

Search Help also says Google "may default to the last app you used for a certain task", and that the user can switch by naming a different app. The same page says a user can also make a general request and then select an app from the list of available apps, and that if the app is not yet connected, AI Mode offers the option to connect it.

So, on what Google has published, discovery inside AI Mode starts with the user. They name the brand, pick it from the list of available apps after a general request, or have already linked it, or Google falls back to the last app they used for that kind of task. Google has not said how it orders that list.

What this means for GEO and AI search visibility

The following is RA analysis, built on the facts above rather than on anything Google said about rankings.

Most generative engine optimisation work today aims at being cited: getting a brand's pages quoted inside an AI Overview, an AI Mode answer or a Gemini reply. Connected apps are a second, separate layer. Here the brand is not a source being quoted. It is a tool the model calls to do something, such as building a cart, checking an account or booking a slot, using the user's own linked account.

That changes what "visibility" means for the brands that qualify. Because discovery leans on the user naming or choosing the app, brand recognition carries more weight in this layer than a page's ranking does. A person has to know a brand well enough to type its name or pick it from a list, or to have linked it earlier. Brands that are already well known and already hold logged-in customer accounts are the ones the current design suits.

It also means the two layers support each other. The content and entity work that gets a brand named in AI answers is the same work that makes a person likely to call that brand by name in AI Mode. Google's guide also says AI models use a server's instructions to decide when to hand a task to it, so the clarity of a tool's description now matters to routing in a way that resembles how clear page copy matters to citation. Google's policy limits how far that can be pushed, as the next section shows.

For brands without a logged-in service, nothing in the 28 October material offers a way in. A brochure site with no account, cart or booking flow has no obvious tool to expose. For them, AI SEO work on content and citations remains the relevant route into AI Mode.

Policy rules that shape who gets surfaced

Google's Connected Apps Platform policy is the most concrete guide to how the platform will be policed. Several rules bear directly on marketers:

• No advertising inside the app. Partners "must not serve any third party advertising content or promotional material" through their integrations, though a brand's own elements are allowed.
• No gaming the model. The policy bars "overly broad or deceptive capability descriptions" written to make the model choose one app over others, bars tools that set rules for how other tools are used, and bars returning system instructions inside app responses.
• No wrappers. Apps that mainly pass through another platform's APIs that the developer does not own are prohibited.
• No clones. Developers must not create several apps with highly similar functionality.
• Reliability counts. Apps that consistently return errors, crash, time out or fail authentication are prohibited.
• Minimum data. Tools may ask only for the data strictly needed for the function as submitted.

Google says violations can lead to rejection at submission, suspension or removal from the platform. In plain terms, the manipulation tactics that sometimes work on web rankings, such as stuffed descriptions and near-duplicate entries, are written out of this platform's rules from day one.

What Google did not say

Several questions a business would ask are not answered in the 28 October post or the developer pages:

• Which countries or languages the developer preview covers. Google says only that markets will be added over the coming months.
• Whether there is any fee, revenue share or commercial model for developers.
• How Google orders the list of available apps after a general request, beyond the Search Help line about defaulting to the last app used.
• Whether Google ads will run next to connected-app results.
• How long review takes, or which categories will be accepted first.
• Any link between a connected app and a site's organic rankings. Nothing in the material suggests one.

Some observers are cautious too. Google's John Mueller, quoted by Search Engine Roundtable from LinkedIn, said he was excited about connected apps as a search platform but added: "It's still extremely early." He also said he does not work on connected apps, so his view is a personal one.

How this connects to RA's earlier coverage

Two recent RA posts used the phrase "connected apps" in a different sense. On 20 October 2026 RA reported that Google was testing ads in AI Mode for users who connect Gmail and Photos through Personal Intelligence, and on 24 October 2026 RA reported that Google's privacy policy now lets connected Gmail, Drive and Photos data shape ads. Those stories were about Google's own apps feeding personal context into Search. The 28 October announcement is about third-party developers putting their own services inside Search and Gemini.

The third-party thread started earlier. On 16 July 2026 Google began rolling out connected apps in AI Mode in the US, starting with Instacart, Canva and YouTube Music. What is new now is the developer platform, the console, the policy and the named partners, which turn a handful of hand-picked integrations into a process other businesses can apply for. It also sits next to RA's coverage of Google's agentic checkout work, including the Universal Commerce Protocol hub in Merchant Center reported on 8 October 2026.

What this means for Thai marketers

For now, this is a watch-and-prepare story in Thailand. The Search side is limited to US English on Google's own Help page, and Google has not named the preview markets. Nothing in the announcement says Thai users or Thai-language queries are covered. In Gemini, availability is set app by app, and none of the four named partner apps lists Thai as a supported language on Google's Gemini Help table.

Thai brands that run account-based services, such as e-commerce, travel booking, ticketing, banking or fitness memberships, can still do the groundwork. A sensible first step is to check whether the business already has documented web APIs and an OAuth login that could sit behind an MCP server, since Google says existing APIs can be reused. A team that wants to apply can read the developer docs and the policy now and decide whether its service fits the "direct, meaningful utility" bar Google sets. Brands with no logged-in service should keep investing in being cited by AI answers, which is the layer this announcement does not change.

Frequently asked questions about Google's Connected Apps Platform

What is Google's Connected Apps Platform?

It is a developer platform, in preview since 28 October 2026, for building apps that run inside AI Mode in Google Search and the Gemini app. Developers connect through an MCP server or Android AppFunctions and register the app in Google Connected Console.

Is the Connected Apps Platform available in Thailand?

Google has not said. Its 28 October post says access is opening in phases with more markets over the coming months, and its Search Help page says connected apps in Search are currently available in AI Mode in the US, in English.

Will a connected app make my brand show up in AI Mode automatically?

No, not on what Google has published. Users trigger an app by naming it, by picking it from the list of available apps after a general request, or after linking it to their Google Account, and Google may default to the last app a user chose for a task.

Can a connected app carry ads or promotions?

No third-party ads or promotional material are allowed. Google's policy permits a brand's own elements but says connected apps must be free of advertising content.

Does this replace SEO or GEO work?

No. A connected app is an extra route for brands with account-based services, while content that gets cited in AI answers is still how most brands appear in AI Mode and Gemini.

Connected apps add a second way for a brand to show up in Google's AI surfaces, as a tool rather than a citation. If you want to know where your brand stands in AI Mode and Gemini today, and whether an MCP integration is worth planning, Relevant Audience can help you review it.