App discovery transforms Pendo Launcher into an enterprise app discovery tool, giving you visibility into web apps and AI agents employees use that haven't been configured in Pendo.
Why use app discovery
Many enterprise tools enter organizations through individual teams, not IT, meaning you don’t have a full view of your software portfolio. This leads to:
- Paying for unused or underused licenses across multiple apps.
- Duplicate spending on overlapping tools that serve the same purpose.
- Security and compliance gaps from unmanaged applications and AI agents.
- Missed opportunities to consolidate the apps in use across your organization.
App discovery closes this gap by automatically surfacing apps and potential AI agents your employees use without requiring manual setup first. This helps you cut costs by identifying low license usage and reducing spend on unused tools across your business.
What app discovery does
Once enabled, app discovery allows the Pendo Launcher browser extension to detect visits to a predefined list of widely-used enterprise apps. These apps appear in the Command Center as discovered apps, alongside managed apps.
For each app, you'll see:
- App name
- Shadow IT risk indicator if applicable (warning icon for High-risk apps)
- Category
- Engagement
- Active employees
- Licenses (editable)
- License usage (when license data is available)
- Usage status (when license data is available)
- Annual cost (editable)
- Potential savings (for apps with low usage)
- App owner
- Renewal date (editable)
- Labels
- Notes
This high-level data helps you assess usage trends and prioritize which tools to manage in Pendo.
Additionally, app discovery surfaces discovered apps with potential AI agents in the Apps to review section of the Command Center overview. Selecting this category navigates you to the Agents tab, where you can view a list of applications that have AI agent features but don't yet have agent analytics configured. You can then add an AI agent to these apps to begin tracking activity.
Data collection
App discovery uses minimal, privacy-first tracking and collects data on:
- URLs visited
- Anonymous Visitor ID: No PII unless you've opted in to identified tracking
- Page view timestamp: Only load events are tracked - no clicks, inputs, or page content
App discovery doesn't collect form data, keystrokes, full URLs, or Feature usage. To get the most out of app discovery, you can opt to promote a discovered app in the Command Center, so it becomes a fully managed Pendo app. You can then tag elements, track detailed usage, and create guides for that app. Learn more about the Command Center.
How the Pendo app catalog works
App discovery uses the Pendo app catalog to help identify which apps to monitor. The catalog is a curated database of enterprise apps that includes:
- Estimated cost per user
- App categories
- Shadow IT risk ratings
- AI agent flags that indicate if the app includes an AI agent
When an app with the AI flag is discovered and has employee activity, it appears in the Command Center as an app with a potential AI agent. You can then add an AI agent to the app to start monitoring it with Agent Analytics.
How apps are selected for the catalog
The catalog focuses on apps commonly used in business and enterprise organizations that can be identified through stable web domains. Apps are included when they:
- Are widely used in enterprise organizations.
- Can be reliably identified through vendor-owned domains.
- Represent a distinct vendor or app family suitable for portfolio management
Apps are excluded if they're documentation sites, code repositories, or can't be mapped to a specific enterprise product.
How costs are estimated
The Estimated annual cost shown in the Command Center comes from the app catalog. Cost estimates are based on:
- Published vendor pricing for standard tiers (such as Business or Pro plans).
- Market research from reputable sources.
- Category-based benchmarks when vendor pricing isn't publicly available
Cost data may be blank for apps that use usage-based pricing, require custom quotes, or bundle multiple products into suite licensing.
Note: Cost estimates are directional benchmarks for portfolio analysis. Always validate against your actual contracts and invoices for budgeting and procurement decisions.
How Shadow IT risk is decided
Each app in the catalog includes a Shadow IT potential rating (Low, Medium, or High) indicating the likelihood of adoption without IT approval.
Note: In the Command Center, only apps rated High are flagged with a warning icon. Apps rated Medium or Low don't show visual warnings, even if they're discovered apps.
Apps are rated High when they:
- Offer easy self-serve signup or free trials.
- Can be used effectively by individuals or small teams without admin setup.
- Don't require SSO, security configuration, or central IT involvement.
Apps are rated Low when they:
- Require formal procurement and enterprise setup
- Need SSO, security reviews, or deep integrations to be useful
- Are typically deployed centrally (such as IAM platforms, ERP systems, or security tools)
Apps are rated Medium when adoption patterns vary based on organizational controls.
Note: A legitimate, enterprise-grade application can still have High Shadow IT potential if it's designed for bottom-up adoption through self-serve signup and freemium plans.
Prerequisites
To enable app discovery, you must:
- Be a subscription admin
- Have Pendo Launcher deployed to employee browsers
- Have approval from your security, privacy, and compliance teams
Important: App discovery collects browsing data from third-party sites. Make sure your security, privacy, and compliance teams approve this before turning it on.
Turning on app discovery
- Go to Settings > Subscription settings.
- Open the Extension tab.
- Under Preferences, select the Enable Discovery mode checkbox.
- In the Turn on app discovery? modal, review the privacy notice.
- Select Turn on app discovery.
- A success message confirms that app discovery is enabled. App discovery may take a while to activate.
Note: Turning on app discovery automatically enables AI agent discovery. There is no separate setup required to discover AI agents in your applications.
Turning off app discovery
- You can turn off app discovery at any time without deleting historical data.
- Go to Settings > Subscription settings.
- Open the Extension tab.
- Under Preferences, clear the Enable Discovery mode checkbox.
- App discovery stops collecting new data immediately. Previously discovered apps remain visible in the Command Center until you delete them manually.
What employees see
When app discovery is enabled, employees with Pendo Launcher installed can view and manage their data collection preferences in the Privacy Center. To access the Privacy Center, employees select the Pendo Launcher icon in their browser, then select Privacy Center from the menu.
In the Privacy Center, employees can:
- See which apps Pendo is monitoring.
- View the data collection notice.
- Understand how their browsing data is used.
View discovered apps in the Command Center
After turning on app discovery, discovered apps appear in the Command Center.
To view them:
- Go to Product > Command Center.
- In the app table, look for apps with the Discovered badge in the Application column.
- Use the All app types filter to show only discovered apps.
If you have Agent Analytics, you can also view apps with AI capabilities by opening the Agents tab. The Apps with potential AI agents section lists discovered applications that don't yet have an agent configured. You can select + Add Agent to begin monitoring these applications.
For more information about managing discovered apps, go to the Command Center.
Promote discovered apps to managed apps
You can promote a discovered app to a managed app to enable full Pendo functionality, including tagging, analytics, guides, and session replay if those SKUS are enabled.
- In the Command Center app table, hover over a discovered app row.
- Select Promote app and confirm your choice in the modal.
- A success message confirms that the app is promoted. You can now tag elements, track usage, and create guides for this app.
Discover potential AI agents
App discovery also helps you identify AI agents embedded within the applications your employees use.
To view apps with potential AI agents:
- Go to Product > Command Center.
- In the Overview card, look for Apps with potential agents under Apps to review.
- Select the count to open the Agents tab, which displays the Apps with potential AI agents table. This table lists apps that have AI capabilities, employee activity, and no Agent Analytics configured.
You can select + Add Agent next to an app in the table to configure Agent Analytics. If you add an agent to an unmanaged discovered app, you're prompted to promote the app to a managed app.
Privacy and security
- Pendo is committed to transparency and user trust. App discovery:
- Respects existing privacy settings: App discovery uses your configured Visitor ID settings. If you identify visitors through the Pendo Launcher, discovered app data includes those identifiers. If you don't configure identification, app discovery collects anonymous data only.
- Domain-based detection: Uses a vetted catalog of known SaaS domains to identify applications
- Customizable exclusions: Supports your existing configuration in Pendo to exclude specific domains, subdomains, or URL paths from data collection.
- Limited data collection: Only collects top-level domains, Visitor IDs, and page view timestamps—no form data, keystrokes, or page content