Developer(s) | |||||||
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Initial release | March 20, 2013 | ||||||
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Operating system | Android, iOS, web, Wear OS, WatchOS | ||||||
Type | Note-taking service | ||||||
Website | www |
Google Keep (formerly Google Keep Notes and Google Notes) is a note-taking service included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes: Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms and Google Sites. Google Keep is available as a web application as well as mobile app for Android and iOS. The app offers a variety of tools for taking notes, including texts, lists, images, and audio. Text from images can be extracted using optical character recognition and voice recordings can be transcribed. The interface allows for a single-column view or a multi-column view. Notes can be color-coded and labels can be applied to notes to categorize them. Later updates have added functionality to pin notes and to collaborate on notes with other Keep users in real-time.
Google Keep has received mixed reviews. A review just after its launch in 2013 praised its speed, the quality of voice notes, synchronization, and the widget that could be placed on the Android home screen. Reviews in 2016 have criticized the lack of formatting options, inability to undo changes, and an interface that only offers two view modes where neither was liked for their handling of long notes. However, Google Keep received praise for features including universal device access, native integration with other Google services, and the option to turn photos into text through optical character recognition.[5]
Google ended support for the Google Keep Chrome app in February 2021, though Google Keep itself will continue to be accessible through other apps and directly in web browsers.[6]