Google's AI Mode can now connect to your shopping and design apps

Key points

• Google added third-party app support to AI Mode, its conversational search experience, announcing the feature on Thursday.
• At launch, three apps are supported: Instacart (grocery shopping), Canva (design templates), and YouTube Music (playlists).
• The rollout is limited to users in the United States, with more apps planned.
• Google's two main rivals in this space, OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude, both already offer similar app-linking features.

Google's AI Mode, the chat-style search tool built into Google Search that lets you have a back-and-forth conversation instead of just typing keywords, can now connect directly to a small set of everyday apps. The update means it can take action inside those apps, not just talk about them.

The practical difference is significant. Before, you could ask AI Mode to suggest ingredients for a barbecue. Now, if you link your Instacart account, it can add those ingredients to your Instacart shopping cart in one step. You then open Instacart to check out. The AI does the list-building; you do the buying.

Design app Canva works similarly. Ask AI Mode for flyer templates and it will pull a selection directly from Canva for you to choose from. For music, you can ask AI Mode to build a party playlist and save it straight to YouTube Music.

This is a meaningful shift in what AI Mode is for. Until now it has primarily been a smarter way to search. Google is now pushing it toward being a tool that completes tasks. That brings it closer to what OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude, two competing AI assistants, already let users do.

What does this mean for people who use Google Search every day?

For most users, nothing changes unless you choose to connect an app. If you do link Instacart or Canva, the main benefit is fewer steps between planning something and actually doing it. You stay inside Google Search longer rather than jumping between tabs.

The feature is optional. Google has not said it shares your app data with third parties beyond what is needed to carry out the task you request.

This app-linking idea is not new to Google. Earlier in 2025, at its annual Google I/O developer event, the company added similar connections to its separate Gemini app, covering Canva, Instacart, the restaurant-booking service OpenTable, and others. AI Mode is now catching up.

Google has added several other capabilities to AI Mode in recent months. It can check local store stock for a product you need. It can let you browse the web alongside a conversation without losing your place in the chat. Earlier in 2025 Google also launched a feature called Personal Intelligence that lets AI Mode read your Gmail and Google Photos to give more personalised answers, if you opt in.

More app partnerships are coming, Google says, though it has not named them or given a timeline. As first reported by TechCrunch AI, the initial three partners are available now for US users.