Google opens a platform to build apps for Search and Gemini

US developers on a waitlist can plug their services into Google Search and the Gemini app through MCP, in a preview Google says it will widen in phases.

By Alexandre S. 29 Oct 2026, 05:00 UTC

Connected apps let people use an outside service, such as a ticketing or fitness service, from inside Google Search or the Gemini app without leaving the chat. On 28 October 2026 Google opened a preview of a platform for building them (Google’s post). Developers need one of two links: a cloud-hosted MCP server, the standard connector AI assistants use to call outside tools, or AppFunctions, Android’s way of exposing an app’s actions. Everything else happens in the Google Connected Console, where a developer tests the app, picks Search, Gemini or both and sends it to Google for review. After launch, the same console shows usage, response times and error rates.

Google counts more than 50 connected apps across Search and Gemini. Peloton, Adobe, Localiza and Experian already work in Gemini, and Google says it is adding them to Search within weeks. For now only US developers who join a waitlist get in, TechCrunch reports, and Google says it will add developers, markets and products in phases. Each searcher still has to switch an app on in their personal Search settings, Search Engine Roundtable notes.

Several AI ad tools already run MCP servers. Our guide to Higgsfield’s MCP server, checked 28 October 2026, shows it making images and video, in Higgsfield’s words, “directly inside Claude or another MCP-compatible agent”, with every call billed in Higgsfield credits.

Google’s console takes a cloud-hosted MCP server, the kind Higgsfield already runs, so an ad tool built that way needs no new connector to reach Search and Gemini; what it still needs is a US preview place, Google’s review and each user switching it on in their Search settings.

Google opens a platform to build apps for Search and Gemini

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