Google Keep saw a surge of updates in 2025, reshaping how the lightweight note-taking app fits into Google’s broader productivity and AI strategy. The changes followed a relatively active 2024, but also raised questions about how modern — and how ambitious — Keep should become.
In 2024, Google added features like the “Help me create a list” assistant, refreshed support for Android tablets and foldables, a Gemini extension, and the first phase of a redesigned floating action button (FAB).
Early 2025 focused on refining those changes. Google responded to feedback that the revamped FAB made creating notes a two-step process by adding a “Create text notes by default” setting in April. That same month, the Quick Capture homescreen widget was redesigned, making it more useful for rapid note entry, including from the lockscreen.
Beyond Android, text formatting tools rolled out on the web version of Keep, bringing richer editing options to keep.google.com. At the same time, Google removed the long-neglected Apple Watch app, signaling a shift in where the company is investing for wearable access.
The largest visual overhaul came with the adoption of Material 3 Expressive. Keep’s search app bar was updated to align with other Google Workspace apps such as Docs, Drive, and Gmail. The search interface and main notes view now use containers for a cleaner, more contemporary layout. The Wear OS app received a similar refresh, with the Tile interface in particular benefiting from the new design language.
Functionally, Google added the ability to sort notes on the homepage, giving users more control over how their content is organized. In the background, the company continues to roll out the migration of reminders from Keep into Google Tasks, further consolidating its task management strategy.
Despite these updates, Keep remains a relatively simple product compared with other ecosystem note apps, such as Apple Notes. One interpretation is that Google intends Keep to stay lightweight because more advanced workflows are handled by other tools: Google Docs for richer text editing and collaboration, and Google Sheets for tables and structured data. Under that logic, deeper integrations such as a Gemini side panel inside Keep seem unlikely, as Google already positions Docs and other Workspace apps as the primary destinations for AI-driven productivity.
Keep’s simplicity, however, is also part of its appeal. The app functions as a fast, always-available scratchpad on mobile devices. Its grid-based layout distinguishes it from many rival note and productivity apps that default to list views, giving Keep a more visual, board-like interface without heavy complexity.
There is still room for quality-of-life improvements that could enhance the experience without overloading the Android interface, and the web client at keep.google.com is often cited as overdue for a more thorough modernization.
Looking ahead, the question is what a modern, AI-enabled note-taking app from Google might look like in 2026 and beyond. Early on, some observers expected NotebookLM to connect more closely with Keep, but NotebookLM has evolved into a standalone, AI-native research and summarization tool. Another open question is whether Google might someday extend Pixel Recorder’s transcription and summarization capabilities to more devices and surface the results directly in Keep, which would be a natural home for captured audio notes.
A hypothetical AI-first notes app from Google would likely need to be assistive and proactive, tapping into signals from email, calendar events, and other services to help users manage tasks, follow up on information, or conduct research. That raises the broader issue of whether there is space in Google’s lineup for something more powerful than Keep — perhaps an experimental product, similar in spirit to the now-defunct Inbox, that runs alongside the existing app while exploring a more advanced future for note-taking.
Such a tool might ultimately resemble a general-purpose assistant like Gemini, but presented in the familiar structure of a notes app: a visual canvas for ideas, tasks, and reference material, with AI operating quietly in the background.