[DigitalToday reporter Chi-gyu Hwang (황치규)] Google has added a feature in AI Mode that lets users connect some external apps and continue tasks directly.

TechCrunch reported on July 16 that the feature will be applied starting with U.S. users, and the supported apps at launch are Instacart, Canva and YouTube.

With the update, AI Mode now supports not only conversational search that answers questions but also functions that handle tasks in apps users frequently use. Google plans to work with multiple partners to expand the number of supported apps.

For example, if a user is creating a barbecue shopping list in AI Mode and connects an Instacart account, the user can put ingredients straight into a cart and then complete payment in the Instacart app or website. On Canva, users can ask to see templates needed for work such as flyers. Party playlists can be selected in AI Mode and saved directly to YouTube Music.

The feature expands to AI Mode the external app connection capability for the Gemini app that Google unveiled earlier this year at Google I/O. At the time, the Gemini app supported faster task completion by connecting with third-party apps including Canva, OpenTable, Spark and Instacart.

Google has continued to expand features since the launch of AI Mode in early 2025. It recently added a function to check whether needed products are available at nearby stores, and it also introduced features to browse the web alongside AI Mode to compare details or to continue follow-up questions while maintaining search context.

Google has also introduced 'personal intelligence' to AI Mode and has started supporting personalised answers using information from Gmail and Google Photos.