Earlier this year, Google began introducing connected apps in Gemini and Google Search, allowing users to securely link third-party services and ask its AI tools to carry out tasks. The concept is already familiar: Canva can help design a flyer, while YouTube Music can build a playlist.¹

Google has now moved to widen that experiment. Its new Connected Apps Platform opens a U.S. public-preview waitlist for businesses and developers that want to build and submit integrations for Gemini, Search or both.² Developers would connect through a cloud-hosted or Android Model Context Protocol server, register and test the app through Google’s Connected Console, then monitor traffic, latency and error rates after launch.¹

The company’s pitch is not simply technical. Google is offering developers a place in an emerging contest over how people navigate the web: instead of opening individual apps, users could access services through a preferred AI provider. Developers retain verified logos and authenticated accounts, while the platform gives them a way to measure whether that new route is delivering customers.¹

Google already lists more than 50 Connected Apps in Gemini, including partners such as Adobe, Experian, Localiza and Peloton. Its own services — from Workspace and Photos to Google Home — are also part of the lineup. Search currently has fewer integrations, including Instacart, Canva, YouTube Music and Yahoo Fantasy Football, but Google says Gemini apps will arrive in Search over the coming weeks; Calm is due to launch on both products soon.¹

For now, the opening remains limited to U.S. developers on the beta waitlist. Google has not said when Connected Apps will become broadly available.¹