Google has just made its AI Mode significantly more useful. The company announced on Thursday that users can now link their everyday apps directly inside AI Mode — Google’s conversational search experience — and use them to complete real tasks without leaving the chat.
At launch, three apps are supported: Instacart, Canva, and YouTube.
From Answering Questions to Getting Things Done
Until now, AI Mode functioned primarily as a smarter search experience — ask a question, get a synthesised answer. This update pushes it into genuinely new territory: acting on your behalf across the apps you actually use day-to-day.
The shift is meaningful. Google isn’t just helping you find information anymore. It’s helping you do things with it.
The examples Google provided make the practical benefit clear. If you’re planning a barbecue and using AI Mode to build a grocery list, you can now connect your Instacart account and add all the ingredients directly to your shopping cart — then check out on Instacart without any additional steps. If you need a flyer designed for an event, you can ask AI Mode to pull up Canva templates relevant to what you’re building. And if you want a playlist for a party, AI Mode can curate it and save it directly to YouTube Music.
These aren’t edge cases designed for a press release. They’re genuinely common tasks that people do repeatedly, and removing the friction between “AI gives me a list” and “the thing is actually done” is a real improvement to the experience.
The Competitive Context
The timing of this announcement is not coincidental. Both OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude already support third-party app integrations — connecting to tools like DoorDash, Spotify, and dozens of others. Google is playing catch-up on this dimension of conversational AI, and AI Mode’s app connections are a direct response.
The race to make AI assistants genuinely useful as action-taking tools — not just answer machines — is intensifying across all the major players. Google has the advantage of deep integration with its own ecosystem and enormous reach through Search, which gives it a significant distribution advantage even if it’s arriving slightly late to the app integration party.
Part of a Broader AI Mode Build-Out
Today’s announcement is the latest in a series of capability expansions Google has been rolling out to AI Mode since its launch in early 2025. The feature has been growing steadily:
Earlier this year, Google introduced what it called “Personal Intelligence” — allowing AI Mode to access users’ Gmail and Google Photos to provide more personalised responses. If you’ve received an email about a package delivery, for instance, AI Mode can incorporate that context into a related search.
More recently, Google added real-time inventory awareness, letting AI Mode help users check whether a specific item is available at a nearby store before heading out. It also launched a side-by-side web browsing mode, allowing users to explore web pages while maintaining the context of their AI conversation — useful for comparing products, reading reviews, or asking follow-up questions without losing the thread.
Today’s app connections build on an earlier announcement from Google I/O, where Google introduced the ability for the Gemini app to connect to third-party services including Canva, OpenTable, Spark, and Instacart. AI Mode is now receiving the same capability, extending it to Google’s primary search surface.
What’s Coming Next
The rollout is currently live for users in the United States. Google says more app partners are in the pipeline and plans to expand the list of supported integrations in the coming months.
The direction is clear. Google is trying to make AI Mode the place where you don’t just search for things — you get them sorted. Whether groceries, creative projects, or playlists, the goal is to keep users inside the AI Mode experience longer and make that time feel genuinely productive rather than just informational.
