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Compared to the year prior, 2025 saw a lot of updates for Google Keep. It’s easily one of my most used apps on Android. While I don’t necessarily have any complaints about the service today, I wonder what a modern note-taking app from Google would look like.
As a reminder, 2024 saw “Help me create a list,” Android tablet/foldable updates, a Gemini extension, and the initial FAB redesign.
2025 started with Google addressing how the revamped FAB (floating action button) made note creation a two-step process. I’ve kept the “Create text notes by default” setting enabled since it rolled out in April. That month, we also got a redesign of the Quick capture homescreen widget that’s found a home on my lockscreen.
Outside of the Android app, text formatting rolled out on the web, while the Apple Watch app was pulled after not being updated for ages.
The big design update of the year was Material 3 Expressive. It starts with the search app bar to match other Google Workspace apps like Docs, Drive, and Gmail. The search UI and notes page benefit from containers in a straightforward modernization. The Wear OS app was similarly updated, with the Tile particularly benefiting.
Finally, we got the ability to sort notes on the homepage, while Google is still rolling out the reminders-to-Tasks migration.
Compared to other apps like Apple’s offering, Google Keep is a much more basic app. I do wonder if the existence (and popularity) of Google Docs means that Keep will always remain a lighter app. (In comparison, I assume Apple Notes is significantly more popular than Pages.) For example, I don’t think we’ll ever see the Gemini side panel come to Google Keep because that level of productivity is meant for Docs. Similarly, there’s Google Sheets for table functionality.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Keep’s simplicity. It’s my scratchpad on Android phones, and I need it to be fast above all else. Design-wise, Google got the interface really right when it launched in 2013. The grid view makes the UI so much more interesting. Every other note and productivity app is a list, and that simple difference is why I’m still using it.
It could benefit from quality-of-life improvements — be sure to chime in and comment below — that wouldn’t clutter the Android interface, while keep.google.com definitely needs a modernization.
That said, I do wonder what a modern note-taking app that takes advantage of what AI can do would look like in 2026 and beyond.
In the very early days of NotebookLM, I thought there would be some integration between the two, but the AI-native service has clearly matured into its own full-featured tool. Meanwhile, if Google were to ever bring the transcription and summarization functionality of Pixel Recorder to all devices, Keep would be the most natural way to do it.
A hypothetical AI note app would have to be assistive and proactive. It would need an awareness of your emails and calendar to help you accomplish tasks or conduct research.
For Google specifically, I wonder if there is space for anything more powerful than Keep. Maybe it’s time for an Inbox-style experiment that builds out a future Keep in parallel to the existing offering.
All in all, I’m probably describing a general assistant like Gemini. But I do wonder if there’s some merit for a smart assistant that visually and structurally resembles a notes app.
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Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com
