Google Overhauls Keep Notes Service To Hit Evernote Where It Hurts

At launch, Google Keep showed a lot of promise. There's Google's epic cloud infrastructure, excellent syncing across the Google ecosystem, and a drop-deal simple interface. Plus, it seems that mobile users at large are howling for a fantastic note-taking app, as proven by the success of items like Evernote. That said, Keep may have been a bit too simple at launch, and also, it only shipped for Android -- no other mobile platforms could take advantage.


Today, Google's shaping Keep up a bit, and you can bet it's going right after Evernote. Now, Keep can remind you of important tasks and errands at just the right time and place. For example, Keep works with Google Now to remind you of your grocery list when you walk into your favorite grocery store, and nudges you on Thursday night to take out the trash. To get started, select the “Remind me” button from the bottom of any note and choose the type of reminder you want to add. You can add time-based reminders for a specific date and time, or a more general time of day, like tomorrow morning.


If you get a reminder you’re not ready to deal with, simply snooze it to a time or place that’s better for you. It’s now even easier to get to all of your notes using the new navigation drawer, which includes a way to view all of your upcoming reminders in one place. And for people who want more separation between their home and work lives, the drawer also lets you easily switch between your accounts.

Chrome and Android users can look for the update today, but sadly, iOS and others will have to wait. Your move, Evernote.