Image: Search Engine Journal
Why it mattersAI Mode and Gemini can now pass work to a third-party app. A team that owns a service has a new place to be chosen, and a new rule book to follow.
Getting an app into a Google AI answer used to need an invitation. Google opened the Connected Apps Platform to a public preview on 28 October, so any developer can apply.
Robby Stein, Vice President of Product at Google Search, announced the preview on X on 29 October. Matt Southern at Search Engine Journal pulled the policy and the developer docs together. His piece is where many of these facts came from.
What a connected app is
A connected app runs inside AI Mode in Google Search and inside the Gemini app. The model can hand a task to the app during a user's session. Google says over 50 connected apps are live across the two products already. In United States English search, that list is Instacart, Canva, YouTube Music, Yahoo Fantasy Football and Sleeper Fantasy Football.
The developer builds the app in one of two ways. A remote Model Context Protocol server reaches Gemini and Search users on the web, Android and iOS. AppFunctions, which Google calls Android MCP, reaches Gemini users on Android only.
How a developer gets in
The developer registers the app in the Google Connected Console. The console asks for a category and three capabilities to show the user. It also asks for the countries, languages and Google products where the app should appear. Google reviews each submission and tests it in a sandbox before publishing.
Google's policy page bars a few things. An app cannot reference other tools or try to steer the model away from them. It cannot carry third-party ads. Its capability descriptions cannot be overly broad or deceptive. Google's words are that no app may try to trick the model into picking it over another app.
The Model Context Protocol server guide is specific about how the model routes a task. Google writes that the model relies on each server's own instructions to decide when to delegate work. Clear instructions make the model more likely to route requests to the correct app.
What is still coming
Only developers who apply now get access, and the published app list is United States English for Search. Google says more developers, more countries, and more Google products will be added in the next few months. Partner apps from Adobe, Experian, Localiza and Peloton on Gemini will reach Search in the coming weeks. A new Calm integration will land on both.
For a team that owns a service, this changes what being chosen means. A Google search result is not the only place a product can meet a Google user now. Server instructions, capability descriptions and tool annotations are new work for someone. These rules are enforced. Google can reject, suspend or terminate a developer account for a policy breach. John Mueller, Google Search Advocate, called the platform "still extremely early" in a public LinkedIn comment. A thin field is also an easier one to be picked from.
Source
Google Connected Apps Platform developer guide. Connected Apps policy. Reporting by Matt G. Southern at Search Engine Journal.
This item was written by an AI system from the linked source. Reveneau is responsible for what it publishes.
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