I’ve primarily been a Samsung smartphone user for most of my life. My first premium Galaxy device was the Samsung Galaxy Note II.
Later, I kept upgrading to other Galaxy phones, and I haven’t stopped since.
But one of the benefits of being a Samsung user is the app ecosystem. I can choose between Google and Samsung apps. Currently, I am around a 60% to 40% split between Samsung and Google (this is an estimate), but I still keep tabs on most of my apps.
The Google app I’ve long since retired and stopped keeping tabs on was Google Keep.
I thought to myself: Why use Google Keep when I already use Samsung Notes, Notepad, and OneNote as my go-to note-taking apps?
Turns out that I am years behind, and this little note-taking app by Google punches well above its weight than I gave it credit for.
I stopped pretending third-party apps are always better than the default Google apps
Here’s why I don’t bother replacing Google’s apps anymore
Why I started paying attention to Google Keep again
Tasks integration is a complete game-changer
One of my colleagues writes about productivity apps all the time. He often compares popular options and highlights the best features in each.
But then I noticed he started writing about Google Keep again after Google pushed out a more recent update to the app.
I thought to myself, “Are people genuinely still using this app?” I was really surprised, so I went digging through our Google Keep content.
In one of his articles, he wrote about how he initially used the app as a “digital dumping ground,” which is exactly how I would use it before, and partially why I stopped.
It turns out that I severely underestimated Google Keep. My old notes consisted of disjointed to-do lists and reminders, for which you don’t need Google Keep.
There are a few to-do list apps that work better, like Todoist (the one I’ve used) and TickTick.
Plus, I even proved that Google Calendar did well with managing my daily routines. I stopped missing a single beat after I effectively leveraged Calendar’s Google Tasks integration.
But I was wrong. Google Keep is much better than I give it credit for. I recently picked it up again, and I was surprised by my experience.
For one, a late October 2025 update for Google Keep integrated Google Tasks into the app.
Reminders in Google Keep can automatically be saved to Google Tasks. Plus, the update unified Google Tasks and Google Calendar with Google Keep, which all worked with Google Gemini.
So it solved the issue of me having to go back and forth, just to get overwhelmed about where exactly I put my schedule notes and routine.
Saving it to Google Keep meant I didn’t have to copy it to Google Calendar. It means less management.
If I were feeling really lazy (which I have been finding myself doing more often since all I have to do is press the volume down button to summon Gemini on my phone), I would ask Gemini to create the reminder for me, and it would integrate with Keep without having to launch it.
To have the Gemini assistant add and edit Google Keep lists, you must connect your Workspace account to Gemini.
I saw how my colleague used this feature as a powerful tool to front-end his workflow in his December article, and I couldn’t believe it was the same app I’d used years ago.
Plus, with the new Material 3 Express theme redesign, the app looks much more modern. I immediately noticed this when I checked the app out on my Google Pixel 8.
Ironically, I was never a massive fan of the original UI; it was too simple, and icons were a bit too muted.
So far, the new design captures my attention. The app looks much cleaner than what I remembered.
To me, it’s easier to visualize my lists with dynamic color themes (I found the previous colors a bit too bright), and the overall UI looks less cluttered because buttons and UI elements are contained within containers.
When an app is more visually appealing to me while keeping its core features untouched, I tend to stick with it.
Part of me wants to use Android apps over the desktop view or Chrome extensions, but I need everything to translate well to a phone — less busy menus and buttons that don’t take a while to find.
Thankfully, even though it has been years since I last launched the app, using it again felt very familiar yet fresh.
Why I’ll keep Google Keep installed long-term
Cross-platform syncing is a necessity for me
One thing I like about Google Keep compared to my other note-taking apps is that I can easily integrate it across different platforms.
Samsung Notes is annoying to sync with the other platforms I use. I love working with my iPad, ThinkPad, Windows Desktop, Chromebook, and Samsung Galaxy S25+.
It often requires other apps or tools to sync properly. That’s not very helpful when I want to switch platforms in the blink of an eye, without having to sign in to something else and send it over manually.
This is where I really miss Google apps, since it’s easy to work across multiple platforms (even Apple).
Google Keep just requires a Google account. I can easily use it on any platform I want without needing another tool or note-taking app to transfer my progress.
I almost regret not doing this sooner. Eventually, I will need to transfer some of my notes from my phone via a third-party app, and it will require me to either paste my text manually or share it one by one to another device via quick share.
Now I know that I really should have used Google Keep instead of relying on a third-party app on my old six-year-old phone.
Plus, since my job requires me to explore different Android ecosystems, a Google app is the best go-between when I am diving into Samsung, OnePlus, and Pixel devices.
I tend to write down minor notes as I test and spot new features on each of my devices — but keeping mental notes isn’t very helpful and always precise.
Take time to explore Google Keep
While I ditched Google Keep years ago, I’m happy I came back to it.
Even though I won’t always use Google Keep as a reminder or to-do list app, I feel much more confident knowing I can finally replace my pesky third-party note-taking app with something just as simple but better.
Google Keep has some nice features, like its grab image text option, which I have been using a lot more since I sometimes take pictures of text on screen or my jotted down notes.
The only downside (for me personally) to the update is that location-based reminders are no longer supported.
You can still use the Google Tasks integration to get time-based alerts, but location-based alerts are no longer available.
