Google Connected Apps Platform: get your app into Gemini

The short answer

To get your app into Gemini and Search, apply for the Connected Apps Platform preview, expose your product as a remote MCP server (or, for an Android app, through AppFunctions), register it in Google Connected Console, test it with Gemini Developer Mode and send it for review. Google says access is opening in phases, so applying does not guarantee a place in the first group.

Apply only if your app gets better when the user signs in, or if it lets people get live information and complete an action such as creating, booking, ordering or updating something. Google says a connected app is not a replacement for a data feed and not a way to get a bigger display for general information. If you qualify, choose your category carefully, because it cannot be changed, and plan to bring your own users first: people meet a connected app by naming it with @ or by asking for a task it handles.

What Google launched on October 28

Connected apps already existed in Gemini and in AI Mode in Search. Until now Google added them through partnerships; the preview turns that into a developer program with one console and one review for both surfaces.

Does your app qualify? A fit test

Google's quality guidelines name three things users want: live, relevant data; personal context from your service; and taking action without leaving Google. A connected app should meet at least one of two pillars: it gets better when the user signs in, or it lets users get live context and complete actions beyond what Google products already do.

What you need before you register

Most of these come from Google's prerequisites page. Having them ready means you can register as soon as access arrives.

• A public HTTPS MCP endpoint using the Streamable HTTP transport. Each connected app gets one global endpoint; separate data-center URLs are not supported.
• If your server filters traffic by IP address, Google's published IP ranges in the allowlist, refreshed regularly because they change.
• A Connected Console account with permission to create apps. An owner or administrator accepts the Connected Apps Terms of Service the first time, before teammates can continue.
• Domain verification: a token file served at /.well-known/google-connected-apps on your domain, returning HTTP 200 with no redirects.
• A name, which people also use for @ mentions, and a one-sentence description under 30 words.
• A 512 × 512 px JPEG or PNG icon of up to 1 MB.
• At least three capabilities beyond the category's defaults and at least three example prompts, none starting with a number.
• Public Terms of Service and Privacy Policy URLs. A website URL is optional.
• For tools that act on a user's account, OAuth with the authorization code flow (Google recommends OAuth 2.1 with PKCE) and a test account with sample data and two-step verification turned off for reviewers.

Steps from the interest form to publishing

1. Apply for the preview through the interest form. While you wait, connect your deployed HTTPS endpoint in Gemini Developer Mode (gemini.google.com/devmode) to prototype; it shows the event log, tool schemas, simulated date, time and location, and authentication.
2. Create the connected app in Connected Console and set its name, category and connection type.
3. Add the icon, description, capabilities, example prompts, optional localized text and the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy URLs.
4. Enter the MCP endpoint and verify the domain with the token file.
5. Choose whether tools need authorization: none, machine-to-machine (client credentials) or user-delegated (authorization code). For user-delegated access, add test accounts and instructions.
6. Sync tools. Google takes a snapshot of the tools your endpoint exposes; fix any Must fix errors before continuing.
7. Set countries or regions, languages and Google products, turn each tool on or off, add context and require user confirmation where an action changes something.
8. Add testers (Gmail accounts only; the app can take up to 10 minutes to appear) and try every example prompt, the sign-in, each tool, confirmations and any interface.
9. Send for review. If the result is Issues found, fix the editable draft and resubmit; when it is Ready to publish, select Publish.

Decisions you cannot undo

A few choices are permanent or locked once published. Make them deliberately, not while filling in a form.

• Category: it cannot be changed. Changing it means building a new connected app, so pick the category whose user journeys match your main task.
• Connection type: MCP server or Android MCP cannot be switched later either.
• Published tools: a published version locks its tools, tool descriptions and server details. Every change needs a new version and another review, and Google recommends a new endpoint for each version.
• One endpoint per app: plan routing and regions behind a single global URL. A country-specific endpoint is acceptable only if you launch only in that country.
• One app per product: the policy prohibits several apps with highly similar functionality, so do not split one product into near-duplicate listings to take more space.

Policy rules that change a growth plan

Some habits from web and app-store marketing break the Connected Apps policy. Check your launch plan against these before you build around it.

• No third-party advertising or promotional material served through the integration. Your own brand elements are allowed; the tools must give standalone value.
• No steering the model toward your app, no rules about how other tools should be used and no references to other tools.
• No system instructions returned in responses; all instructions must be available when Google ingests the app.
• Names, descriptions, icons and tool definitions must be accurate and distinct, with no hidden features or unexpected side effects.
• Exchange only the data the active feature needs, publish a privacy policy that matches and never exchange user data for money.
• Keep it reliable: consistent errors, crashes, timeouts or failed authentication are prohibited, and violations can lead to rejection, suspension or removal.

How it compares with ChatGPT and Claude

If you already run an MCP server, the three assistants accept much of the same work. The differences are in access, listing assets and what you can measure.

How people reach a connected app

There is no public directory ranking or featured placement to apply for. In Gemini, people connect an app in settings, type @ and its name, or ask for a task it handles. In AI Mode, Search offers to link an app when a request needs it, and may default to the app the person used last. In practice, that means the people most likely to use your app first are the ones who already have an account with you.

Write the name, description and example prompts around the words your users already say, so a request matches your tools. Then tell your own users in your product, help center and onboarding email that they can now finish the task from Gemini, with one example prompt that starts with @ and your app name. Google's own rules require at least two example prompts to start with the app name for the same reason.

Copy the listing worksheet

The worksheet follows the field rules on Google's registration page. Fill it in before you open Connected Console, especially the permanent category and connection type, and run the example prompts in Developer Mode first: a reviewer will try the same prompts.

A 30-day plan

1. Days 1–3: write one sentence naming who the app is for and the task it finishes inside Gemini. Check it against the fit test and choose the category. Apply for the preview.
2. Days 4–10: expose three to five narrow tools with readOnlyHint or destructiveHint, connect the endpoint in Developer Mode and run your example prompts until each one works on the first try.
3. Days 11–17: add sign-in, require confirmation on tools that change data, prepare the reviewer test account and fill in the listing worksheet.
4. Days 18–24: when access arrives, register, add a few customers as testers and fix whatever they could not finish.
5. Days 25–30: submit for review. After publishing, tell existing users with one @ example prompt and watch traffic, latency and error rates in the console before announcing anywhere else.

Where Soloop fits

Soloop does not build, register or manage Google connected apps, and it does not read Connected Console data. It helps with the outreach around a launch. According to the Soloop manual, it can research where a group of people discusses a task and return sources, post on X after you connect it with OAuth, prepare Reddit posts for you to publish yourself, send cold email through Gmail (beta) and prepare Google Search Ads for your review and payment. Actions wait for your approval by default.

A bounded first request: My app [link] now works in Gemini for [audience] who [do one task]. Find where [audience] discusses [task], with sources, and draft an email to my existing users with one @ example prompt to try. Do not post or send anything.

Sources, limitations and refresh

Google's October 28, 2026 announcement, the Connected Apps Platform developer documentation (overview, quality guidelines, user journeys, prerequisites, registration steps, MCP server guide, Developer Mode and policy), Google Search Help and Google's September 23 Gemini announcement were read on October 31, 2026. Google does not publish admission criteria for the preview, review times, how Gemini or Search chooses an app, or a country list for Gemini, and the program is a preview. The fit test, comparison notes, worksheet and plan are editorial guidance. Nothing here guarantees admission, approval, placement or users.

This guide will be reviewed by January 31, 2027, or sooner if Google opens the preview more broadly or changes its requirements.