Google offers AI-connected apps in Search, allowing you to send a search directly to services like Instacart, Canva, and YouTube Music. Connections begin rolling out in the United States this week.
Google announced the change in a blog post by Chips Mistry, Senior Product Manager on Search, and Biharck Araújo, Engineering Manager on Search. App connections are available in the Gemini app, which brings them to search.
What do connections do?
Google has released three samples, one for each launcher app.
If you connect Instacart, AI Mode can add ingredients to your Instacart cart while you browse a grocery list. Google said you then make your payment on the Instacart app or website.
With Canva connected, you can ask Canva to display template options for something like a flyer.
AI mode can also curate a playlist and save it to Google-owned YouTube Music. Instacart and Canva are the outside companies participating in the launch.
Google, however, did not name other partners the position says the company is working with a number of them and plans to launch more apps soon.
Connected applications are not personal intelligence
Google uses similar language for two features that do different work.
Personal intelligence uses your connected Google apps as context for responses. It launched in January with Gmail and Google Photos, and Google Calendar connected to this one this week.
New connections send requests. AI Mode asks Canva for templates or places items in your Instacart cart, on services Google doesn’t run.
What happened before that
Google added connected apps to the Gemini app earlier this year, along with OpenTable, Canva and Instacart among the first. Google built them on Model Context Protocol, the open standard for linking AI systems to external tools. Gemini Spark picked up Canva, Dropbox, Instacart, OpenTable, and Zillow Rentals in late June, as well as support for custom MCP logins.
This history can be found in the Gemini app. Today’s search rollout is US-only at launch.
Why it matters
Recipe sites, template sites, and music summaries all rank for the types of searches Google used as examples. In Google’s examples, AI mode hands off part of the task to a connected app rather than just returning links.
Nothing in Google’s post ties this set of apps to search rankings, nor does the post specify how an app becomes eligible. In categories where AI Mode can pass a task to a connected app, being on this list becomes a second visibility issue alongside your page ranking.
Looking to the future
Future launches will show which categories Google is adding connected actions to, and this list is worth watching more than any single integration.
Google has not publicly explained, as of press time, how a company joins this set, or whether a broader integration path is coming. These details will indicate whether you can show up or wait for Google to navigate to your category.
