Fecha: 26 de August de 2026 Noelia Leiro
Your App on ChatGPT: What Is MCP App and What You Need to Do Before Your Competition Does
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is the protocol that is opening up new visibility opportunities for mobile apps within AI assistants. By 2026, brands such as Booking.com, Spotify, Uber, and AllTrails will already be present within ChatGPT, allowing their services to appear directly in users’ conversations without requiring them to leave the assistant. For app owners, this represents a real growth opportunity: whoever gets in first in their sector will have an advantage that the big players will take a long time to overcome.
At Actualizatec, a consulting firm specializing in app marketing with more than 17 years of experience and over 600 apps launched, we have spent months analyzing and implementing MCP strategies with clients from various industries. This article summarizes our findings.
What Are MCP Apps, and Why You Should Pay Attention to Them Now
In this video, we explain everything:
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol that allows any app to connect with AI assistants such as ChatGPT or Claude, so that the assistant can access the app’s data and services in real time during a conversation.
If you have a mobile app and haven’t heard of MCP Apps yet, you’re about to learn why this matters so much to your business.
In October 2025, OpenAI launched its Apps SDK based on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), allowing third-party applications to integrate natively within ChatGPT. The practical result is this: when a user types “book a hotel in Madrid for next weekend” into ChatGPT, Booking.com appears directly in the conversation. Not as an ad. Not as a search result. Literally within the assistant, with real-time access to its catalog.
This is called the MCP App, and it’s one of the opportunities for mobile apps to gain visibility that few people are taking seriously yet.
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is an open protocol originally created by Anthropic in November 2024 and quickly adopted by OpenAI in March 2025, Google in April 2025, and Microsoft in July 2025. Think of it as a universal plug: before, each app existed in its own silo and could only be discovered in the App Store or on Google Play. Now there’s a new entry point—AI assistants—and MCP apps are the way to be there.
The statistic that best summarizes the pace of adoption: The MCP SDK went from 2 million monthly downloads at its launch in November 2024 to 97 million in March 2026, according to data published by Anthropic. In just 16 months, that’s 4,750% growth. That’s not an emerging trend. That’s infrastructure.
At Actualizatec, we take a comprehensive approach to app marketing: from ASO and organic growth strategy to the technical implementation of new opportunities such as MCP apps. When a trend of this magnitude emerges in the ecosystem, we analyze it, test it with real customers, and document what works. That’s exactly what we’ve done with MCP.
How an MCP App Works in Practice: The Cases of Booking and AllTrails
The best way to understand MCP Apps isn’t through technical definitions, but by seeing how brands that have already taken the plunge are using them. This will give you ideas on how you can apply them to your own situation.
Booking.com: Opening the Catalog to Conversational Search via the MCP App
When someone types “book me a hotel in Barcelona for this weekend” into ChatGPT, the assistant detects the intent and calls the Booking.com connector. The result appears directly in the conversation thread: options filtered by dates, location, and price, with a link to complete the booking on the Booking.com website or app.
What Booking has achieved with this is to make itself visible in every conversational travel search, regardless of whether the user had Booking in mind or not. The brand no longer waits for the user to search for it. It appears when the need arises.
That said, here at Actualizatec we’ve analyzed this case and have a critical take on it: Booking has made the right strategic move by opening up its catalog, but if you don’t properly define the user experience of the MCP App—including all its use cases—you could end up driving business away from your website and app without closing the transaction within your ecosystem. That cannot happen.
What Booking has wisely protected—the payment process, the management of confirmed reservations, and the Genius loyalty program—remain on the Booking app and website. In other words, the MCP App acts as the top of the funnel for the catalog, but customer retention and monetization remain within Booking’s own channel.
AllTrails MCP App: Discovery as a New Entry Point
When someone asks ChatGPT, “Give me a hiking trail near me,” the AllTrails MCP App can respond with personalized recommendations, filtered by difficulty, duration, and community ratings.
For AllTrails, this is gold. Its biggest challenge isn’t retaining active users—a problem it’s already solved with real-time GPS, offline maps, and the personal route journal within the app. Its challenge is user acquisition: reaching users before they even know AllTrails exists. The MCP App solves exactly that problem by appearing at the exact moment when the intention to go hiking arises.
The AllTrails MCP App is the business’s new top-of-funnel channel: an additional way to drive traffic to the website from desktop devices and to the app from mobile devices. The key is to get the user experience right—that’s the critical factor.
The MCP Ecosystem in 2026: Data and Brands Already Part of It
MCP Apps are not an experiment by four companies. In December 2025, Anthropic donated the MCP protocol to the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) under the Linux Foundation, a move that confirms it is not owned by any vendor and is here to stay. As of May 2026:
- More than 10,000 active public MCP servers (Anthropic, December 2025).
- 97 million monthly SDK downloads, combining Python and TypeScript (Anthropic, March 2026).
- 170 organizations that are members of the AAIF.
- Native support for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Cursor, and Visual Studio Code.
Brands already operating as MCP Apps within ChatGPT include: Booking.com, Expedia, Spotify, Uber, DoorDash, Canva, Figma, Zillow, Coursera, and Wix. OpenAI has confirmed that OpenTable, PayPal, Walmart, Instacart, and The Fork will be added soon.
ChatGPT reports 800 million weekly active users, according to OpenAI. Every MCP integration exposes a brand to that audience at the exact moment the user has an active intent. That’s targeted distribution, not interruptive advertising.
To better understand the technical architecture behind these integrations, our article on how to integrate ChatGPT into a mobile app explains the basics of the protocol and the available implementation options.
MCP Apps as an Opportunity for Growth: The Analogy with SEO 15 Years Ago
At Actualizatec, we’ve been watching app distribution channels emerge and mature for years. We’ve seen this with ASO, Apple Search Ads, and Google Ads campaigns. The pattern is always the same: early adopters of a new channel have a disproportionate advantage that latecomers take years to make up for.
MCP Apps follow this pattern exactly. Today, the ecosystem has 10,000 public servers. In two years, when every app in every sector has its own connector, the competitive advantage of the early adopters will shift market positions that will be very difficult to regain.
Which app categories have the most potential right now?
Those with the greatest immediate potential are the ones that involve a naturally conversational search experience:
Travel and tourism. Searching for a hotel, flight, or activity is inherently conversational. Users want to filter, compare, and ask questions. Booking, Expedia, and Airbnb already know this.
Delivery and e-commerce. Instacart is now integrated with ChatGPT. The prompt “I need ingredients to make pasta tonight” connects directly to a grocery delivery service. DoorDash handles it with “Ask me for Thai food nearby.”
Health and Fitness. Workout routines, diets, and activity tracking tailored to individual circumstances. A user who asks, “Give me a running plan to start from scratch,” is at the exact moment when a running app should come into play.
Finance. Comparisons, calculators, explanations of financial products. A user who asks, “How much will a 25-year mortgage on 200,000 euros cost me?” is the exact target audience for a personal finance app.
The key point you shouldn’t lose sight of: Small and medium-sized companies that are first to enter their sector will have an advantage that the big players will take time to overcome. The big players face more organizational friction when it comes to moving quickly. Now is the time to get ahead of them.
To learn more about the organic acquisition factors that complement this channel, we recommend reviewing our ASO strategy for 2026 and how it integrates with the new AI touchpoints.
MCP Apps vs. Mobile Apps: They Don’t Replace Each Other—They Complement Each Other
This is the question everyone is asking. Are MCP apps going to kill mobile apps?
The short answer is no. The long answer requires understanding what each channel does.
The MCP App handles discovery and initial intent. The mobile app focuses on the user experience, the transaction, and customer loyalty. These are different stages of the funnel—they are not in competition with each other.
The examples are very clear. AllTrails lets users discover trails through the MCP app, but real-time GPS tracking, offline maps, and the personal trail journal are still available in the mobile app. These are features that require the device, the screen, and the native experience. A chat can’t replace that.
Booking displays search results and its listings through the assistant, but the payment process, reservation management, and the Genius program remain on Booking.com and its app. Transactions and customer loyalty are handled through Booking.com’s own platform.
The model that is taking shape in 2026 is this: the MCP App serves as the initial conversational interface, while the mobile app provides the in-depth experience. The former attracts users; the latter builds loyalty.
There is one weakness that’s important to honestly point out: for your business’s MCP App to work, the user must activate it within the assistant. If your users don’t know your connector exists or don’t activate it, you’re losing that traffic. Communicating the existence of the MCP App to your active user base is a critical part of the strategy. If they don’t activate it, the assistant performs a generic search without tapping into the wealth of information and the experience provided by the MCP.
The ideal solution we at Actualizatec would implement is for the LLM itself to suggest installing the connector when a user asks a question related to your brand. This is our idea; we don’t know if it’s a feature that the assistants will gradually roll out. But it would be great, because it would significantly improve the user experience.
To understand how this fits into your app monetization strategy, the MCP opportunity does not change in-app revenue; rather, it broadens the visibility funnel to include users who will eventually convert within your ecosystem.
How to Implement an MCP App: Actualizatec’s CANAL Framework
At Actualizatec, we have worked with clients across various industries—including service, healthcare, and e-commerce apps—to define and implement their MCP strategy. Based on these projects and a comparative analysis of the most advanced integrations on the market, we have developed the CANAL Framework: a proprietary Actualizatec methodology for implementing MCP Apps in a structured manner, without wasting resources on the wrong phases or losing visibility due to a poorly executed rollout.
The CANAL Framework consists of five steps:
| Step | Action | Description |
|---|---|---|
| C: Use Cases | Define what intentions you want to capture | Identify the 3 to 5 conversational moments where your app can appear in a relevant way. Example: “search for directions,” “book a hotel,” “order food.” |
| A: Architecture | Design the MCP server | Configure the MCP server with the tools and resources that the assistant needs to access. Define which data to make available and which to protect. |
| N: Fiction | Define the conversational experience | Design how the assistant should respond when you use your connector. The quality of the response depends on how you describe your tools on the server. |
| A: Activation | Reach out to your user base | Design your communications to encourage your current users to activate your MCP App on their assistants. Without activation, there is no visibility. |
| L: Learning | Measure and optimize | Define the traffic metrics for the MCP channel. Iterate based on actual usage patterns. |
The technical process for publishing an app in the ChatGPT ecosystem requires: an app icon, name, and description; screenshots; a verified website; a configured MCP server; and passing the mandatory tests prior to OpenAI’s review.
If you already have AI integration in your app, the technical foundation is closer than you think. Our article on the best AI tools for user acquisition can give you some context about the tech stack you’re already using and how it connects with MCP.
Summary: Model Context Protocol for Apps in a Table
| Concept | Details | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Base Protocol | Model Context Protocol (MCP), open and open source | Anthropic, November 2024 |
| Primary Adopters | OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, AWS, Cursor, VS Code | Multiple, 2025–2026 |
| Monthly SDK Downloads | 97 million (Python + TypeScript) | Anthropic, March 2026 |
| Active Public MCP Servers | More than 10,000 | Anthropic, December 2025 |
| Weekly ChatGPT users | 800 million | OpenAI, 2026 |
| Confirmed Integrated Apps | Booking.com, Spotify, Uber, DoorDash, Canva, Figma, Zillow, AllTrails, Expedia, Wix | OpenAI Apps SDK, 2026 |
| Categories with the Most Opportunities | Travel, delivery, health, local services, finance | Actualizatec Analysis, 2026 |
| Key limitation | Requires explicit activation by the user in the wizard | Actualizatec Analysis, 2026 |
| Integration with the mobile app | A complement, not a substitute: MCP captures, the app retains | Actualizatec Analysis, 2026 |
Glossary of Key Terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| MCP Apps | App integrations within AI assistants, built on the Model Context Protocol. They allow the assistant to access an app’s services in real time during a conversation. |
| Model Context Protocol (MCP) | An open protocol created by Anthropic that standardizes how applications connect to AI models. Adopted as a de facto standard by major providers in 2025–2026. |
| MCP Server | A technical component that exposes an app’s tools, resources, and data so that AI assistants can access and use them. |
| Top of the funnel | The first stage of the acquisition funnel, where the user discovers a service or product for the first time. MCP Apps serve as a new top-of-the-funnel channel for mobile apps. |
| Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) | An organization under the Linux Foundation to which Anthropic donated the MCP protocol in December 2025. It brings together 170 organizations from the AI ecosystem. |
| Distribution channel | A way for an app to reach new users. ASO, paid ads, and MCP Apps are examples of different distribution channels. |
| OpenAI Apps SDK | A development kit launched by OpenAI in October 2025 that allows users to build MCP Apps for the ChatGPT ecosystem. |
| LLM (Large Language Model) | A large-scale language model that serves as the foundation for AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude. MCP Apps integrate with these models to access data and perform actions. |
| Connector Activation | The process by which a user enables an MCP App within their AI assistant. Without activation, the assistant does not use the connector, even if the integration has been published. |
| Acquisition channel | Sources of new users for an app. ASO, paid ads, and Apple Search Ads are examples of user acquisition channels. MCP apps serve as an opportunity for additional visibility, not as a pure user acquisition channel. |
| ASO (App Store Optimization) | Process for optimizing an app’s listing on the App Store and Google Play to improve its visibility and increase organic downloads. |
| User Acquisition – Paid Ads | A strategy for acquiring new users for an app, combining organic and paid channels. |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What exactly is an MCP App?
An MCP App is the integration of an application or service into an AI assistant such as ChatGPT, using the Model Context Protocol as the connection protocol. When the assistant detects a relevant intent in the user’s conversation, it accesses the app’s MCP server to retrieve real-time data and includes it directly in the response. The user does not leave the assistant: the information from the app appears within the chat.
How much does it cost to implement an MCP app?
The MCP protocol and its SDKs are free and open source. Implementation costs depend on whether your app already has structured APIs (which reduces the technical workload) and on the complexity of the use cases you want to cover. An initial implementation for an SME with well-defined use cases can range from 6,000 to 15,000 euros depending on scope, according to 2026 market data. Added to that is the cost of the AI model API you use in production. If you already have ChatGPT integrated into your app, check out our article on how to integrate ChatGPT into mobile apps to understand what infrastructure you can reuse.
Will MCP Apps replace mobile apps?
No, at least not on the current horizon or in the foreseeable future. MCP apps handle discovery and conversational intent. Mobile apps retain the in-depth experience, the transaction, and customer loyalty. AllTrails displays routes via MCP, but real-time GPS remains within the app. Booking makes its listings available through MCP, but payment and customer loyalty remain within its own ecosystem. They are complementary layers of the funnel, not direct competitors.
How are MCP Apps discovered? How do they reach my users?
There are two ways this can happen. The first is for the user to find your app in the ChatGPT app directory and activate it manually. The second is for the assistant to suggest it when it detects a relevant intent, although this feature is still under development in the major LLMs. Therefore, actively reaching out to your current user base to encourage them to activate your connector is a critical part of the launch strategy. Without user activation, the assistant will not use your MCP App.
What types of apps have the best chance of success with MCP Apps?
The apps with the highest short-term return are those whose use cases are naturally conversational: travel and tourism, delivery and e-commerce, health and fitness, local services, and finance. In these categories, users are already in the habit of describing their needs in natural language before searching for a specific app. The MCP App puts them right in front of users at that exact moment. Apps whose main advantage is a native sensory experience (games, video editing, content creation) have less urgency in this channel in the short term.
How does the MCP App affect the current ASO strategy and user acquisition efforts?
It doesn’t replace it; it complements it. ASO remains the primary channel for organic discovery within the App Store and Google Play. MCP Apps add a new entry point via AI assistants. The correct analogy is this: just as web SEO and ASO coexist and complement each other, ASO and MCP Apps will coexist as distinct channels with partially overlapping audiences. Apps that leverage both channels in a coordinated manner will have a competitive advantage over those that rely on just one.
Why Choose Actualizatec to Implement Your MCP Strategy
Actualizatec is a consulting firm specializing exclusively in App Marketing and App Growth. We are not a generalist agency that has simply added apps to its portfolio. We’ve been working exclusively in the mobile app ecosystem for over 17 years, with more than 600 projects in sectors such as healthcare, finance, local services, e-commerce, and entertainment.
This specialization gives us three specific advantages when implementing an MCP strategy:
End-to-end understanding of the app ecosystem. We understand how the app works on the inside (architecture, APIs, user flows) and how it performs on the outside (ASO, paid media, retention). A poorly designed MCP app can drive traffic out of your ecosystem without converting it. We know where those leakage points are and how to plug them.
Experience on both sides of the funnel. We’ve worked on user acquisition (ASO, Apple Search Ads, Google Ads) and retention (onboarding, push notifications, monetization) for hundreds of apps. An MCP strategy can’t be designed in isolation—it has to fit with what you already have in place. We do that from day one.
Proprietary methodology tested in real-world projects. The CANAL Framework is not a theoretical framework. It is the result of implementing MCP strategies with real clients, analyzing the results, and refining the process. When we work with you, you’re not paying for experiments—you’re applying what we’ve already validated.
If you have an app and want to assess whether MCP Apps make sense for your business, the first step is a no-obligation diagnostic consultation.
Conclusion
MCP Apps represent one of the most significant opportunities for visibility that have emerged for mobile apps since ASO established itself as a discipline. The MCP protocol, with 97 million monthly downloads of its SDK and the backing of the four AI giants (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft), has gone from a technical promise to a de facto infrastructure in less than 18 months. Early adopters like Booking.com, AllTrails, and Spotify aren’t doing this just to experiment. They’re doing it because they see the opportunity that’s taking shape.
Actualizatec is the leading app marketing agency in Spain. If you want to know whether MCP Apps are a good fit for your app, which use cases make sense to address first, and how to implement them without making the most common mistakes, schedule a free diagnostic session. In 30 minutes, we’ll give you an honest assessment of your situation and a clear starting point.
Schedule your free diagnostic session with Actualizatec
And if you want to gain in-depth knowledge of app marketing, the Stellar App Business program provides you with a comprehensive framework to grow your app in a strategic and measurable way.
