Google opens a Connected Apps Platform: one MCP integration for both Search and the Gemini app
Google launched a preview of its Connected Apps Platform on October 28. Developers build one integration, either a cloud-hosted MCP server or Android AppFunctions, and choose whether it goes live in Search, the Gemini app or both. Access is opening in phases.
Connected Apps are the third-party integrations that let Search and the Gemini app do things inside other services. Google says there are more than 50 so far, and Adobe, Experian, Localiza and Peloton are live in Gemini, with Search coming in the next few weeks. Calm is coming to both.
The new platform lets outside developers build their own. You integrate through a cloud-hosted MCP server, or through Android MCP using the AppFunctions APIs, then register, test and submit the app in the Google Connected Console. Before review you pick Search, the Gemini app or both. Once it's live, the console shows traffic, latency and error rates, and you manage verified logos and authenticated accounts there.
It's a preview with phased access. Google says more developers, markets and Google products will come over the next few months; sign-up and docs are at developers.google.com/connected-apps.
Why it matters for builders
If you've already built an MCP server for your product, Google is now offering a route to put it in front of Search and Gemini users without a separate integration for each. Getting in still depends on the waitlist and Google's review.
Try this
If you already run a cloud-hosted MCP server for your product, sign up for the preview at developers.google.com/connected-apps and read the submission docs, so you know what review needs before your access opens.
Sources
Get stories like this every Monday
One tested AI workflow with the prompts, plus 3 news items that matter if you build. Free.
More AI news
- Trajectory raises $45M led by Sequoia to keep retraining open models on feedback from your app
- NorthCUA puts three open computer-use models on Hugging Face under Apache 2.0, from 9B to 397B
- Meituan releases LongCat-2.5, a 1.6T-parameter agent model trained on Chinese chips, API only for now
- Claude Code 2.1.317 lets a failing Agent SDK hook block the action, and asks before your email leaves the machine