Google Keep 5.26.361 for Android

Google Keep 5.26.361.01.90 is Google's note-taking app for Android. It is made for quick notes and lists that sync through your Google account, so they appear on the phone, on the web and on other devices, and you can download Google Keep for free from Google Play.

Quick facts

What Keep is good at

Google Keep has been around since March 2013 and deliberately stays simple. It is not meant for long documents or complex projects; it is a place for the things you would otherwise write on a sticky note: a shopping list, a phone number, an idea for a gift, a parking spot or a few lines from a meeting. Notes are stored in the cloud as part of your Google account, so a list written on the phone can be opened on a laptop in the browser at keep.google.com, and the app also runs on Wear OS watches. That makes Keep a good companion to heavier tools: capture something quickly in Keep and move it to a proper document later if it grows. People who want a structured notebook with pages and databases will find it too basic, but for everyday capture its simplicity is the point.

Step-by-step: getting started

1. Install or update Google Keep from Google Play; on many phones it is preinstalled.
2. Sign in with the Google account you want your notes stored in.
3. Create a note or a list and give it a short title.
4. Open keep.google.com on your computer to check that the note has synced.
5. Place the app on your home screen so capturing a note takes seconds.

Tips for staying organised

• Keep one note per topic, such as shopping, work or ideas.
• Start each note with a clear title so it is easy to find later.
• Delete or merge notes you no longer need.
• Clean up once a week so the main view stays useful.

Privacy

Notes are stored in your Google account, so their safety depends on that account. Turn on two-step verification, do not keep passwords or card numbers in plain notes and be careful when sharing a note with others. For developers, Google documents its Keep API in the API release notes.

Pros and cons

• Pro: fast and simple.
• Pro: syncs across phone, web and watch.
• Pro: free.
• Con: not suited to long or structured documents.
• Con: requires a Google account.

Alternatives

Our listings include CamScanner for scanning paper notes and documents, and ChatGPT and Google Gemini, AI assistants that can help turn rough notes into finished text.