Google has opened a preview that lets developers apply for access so approved apps can run inside AI Mode in Search and the Gemini app, turning AI answers into places where users can take actions, not just read summaries. Announced on October 28, the preview is an early step toward a search experience in which a question can lead directly to a booking, a design, a playlist, or a fantasy lineup without the user leaving the AI conversation.
Developers can apply for access so approved apps run inside AI Mode in Search and the Gemini app. Developers connect via a remote MCP server or AppFunctions on Android, known as Android MCP. In plain terms, those connections let an app expose its capabilities to Google's AI systems in a structured way, so the system can call the app when a user's request matches what the app does. That structure matters: instead of the AI system guessing from a web page, it works with a defined set of functions the developer has provided. For users, the result should feel like the AI understands not just the question, but also which tool can complete the task.
Google says more than 50 connected apps are live across Search and Gemini. That number suggests the preview builds on work already underway, rather than starting from zero. Help-page examples include Instacart, Canva, YouTube Music, Yahoo Fantasy Football, and Sleeper Fantasy Football, a mix that shows the range Google has in mind: shopping, design, music, and sports. Each example points to a different kind of task a user might want to complete inside a conversation, from ordering groceries to creating a graphic or checking a fantasy team. The breadth of the examples is itself a signal that Google sees connected apps as a general layer for AI search, not a niche feature for one category.
Connected apps in Search currently run in AI Mode only in the United States and in English. That limitation is important for anyone planning around the feature today. A developer outside the United States, or serving users in another language, cannot yet rely on connected apps in Search in the same way. It also means early results, case studies, and user behaviour from the preview will reflect an American, English-speaking audience first. As with many Google rollouts, wider availability may follow, but for now the preview's footprint is deliberately narrow, which gives Google room to learn how users respond before expanding. That measured pace also gives developers time to prepare: they can apply, test how their app behaves inside AI answers, and refine their capabilities before a wider audience ever sees the integration.
Google's written policy bars apps from using overly broad or deceptive capability descriptions to influence the model into selecting them. That rule goes to the heart of how connected apps will be chosen. If an app could win selection simply by claiming it does everything, the system would quickly fill with exaggerated descriptions and poor matches. By barring deceptive descriptions, Google is trying to keep selection honest: apps should be picked because they genuinely fit the user's request, not because they gamed the description. For developers, the practical lesson is to describe capabilities precisely and narrowly, and to let real usefulness, rather than inflated claims, earn selection.
For brands, connected apps create a new kind of visibility. Being the app that completes a task inside AI Mode could matter as much as ranking for a query, because the user may never leave the conversation to visit a website. That shifts strategy toward building genuinely useful app capabilities and clear, honest descriptions of what they do. For SEOs, the preview is another sign that search is becoming a place where answers and actions merge. Content that explains a task well, links clearly to the tool that completes it, and builds the brand authority that makes an app a natural choice will be better positioned as AI Mode moves from answering questions to helping users get things done.
Sources: Search Engine Journal, October 31, 2026.
Linkbaits helps you create content that earns citations and backlinks. Start with the free tools and build your first linkable asset this week.
Start free trial