- Choose Memlow if you want a PIN on single notes, backups encrypted with your own password, no AI, and more room to work: themes, Sheets, Goals, and Urdu in Nastaliq.
- Stay with Google Keep if you use an iPhone, draw in your notes, wear a Wear OS watch, or like your reminders in Google Tasks and Calendar.
- There's no importer for Keep notes, so moving means copying across the notes you still need.
Memlow and Google Keep side by side
What we say about Google Keep comes from its own help pages, pricing and policies, checked in October 2026. The small numbers link to the sources under the table.
| What | Memlow | Google Keep |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free. A few ads in the Android app, none on the web | Free with a Google account. Some Gemini features need a Google AI Pro or Ultra plan, or a Pixel phone9 |
| Lock a single note | Yes, with a PIN. On Android, folders and fingerprint too | Keep's help pages describe no way to lock a note1 2 |
| Where notes are kept | On your phone or in your browser; backups in your own Drive | In your Google account, on Google's servers5 |
| Encryption | Backups and shared notes encrypted end to end, with your password | Encrypted in transit and at rest; not end to end. Google says automated systems analyse content5 6 |
| AI | None | Gemini features, such as Help me create a list9 |
| Phones and computers | Android 8.0 or newer, and the web | Android, iPhone and iPad, the web, Wear OS and a Chrome extension3 |
| Reminders | On a note or one list item, repeating, with a Tasks view | Time reminders, saved to Google Tasks since October 20254 10 |
| Drawing | No | Yes, with pen, marker and highlighter7 |
| Spreadsheets and goals | Memlow Sheets (108 functions, 15 chart types) and Goals | Not part of Keep |
| Sharing | Shared notebooks and links, encrypted end to end | Add collaborators who can edit the note8 |
| Works offline | Yes | Yes11 |
| Take your notes out | Markdown, text, PDF or a backup file | A download through Google Takeout12 |
Sources, checked October 2026
- Google Keep Help: settings
- Google Keep Help: organise notes with labels and colours
- Google Keep Help: where Keep works
- Google Keep Help: set reminders
- Google Privacy Policy
- Google Cloud: default encryption at rest
- Google Keep Help: drawings in notes
- Google Keep Help: share notes
- Google Keep Help: Help me create a list
- Google Workspace Updates: Keep reminders now saved to Tasks
- Google Keep product page
- Google Keep Help: export your notes
Where Google Keep is better
- It's everywhere you are: Android, iPhone, iPad, the web, a Wear OS watch and a Chrome extension. Memlow has no iPhone app.
- You can draw in a note with a pen, marker or highlighter. Memlow has no drawing.
- Reminders land in Google Tasks and Google Calendar, next to the rest of your day if you live in Google's apps.
- There's nothing to set up. Your notes follow your Google account to every device you sign in on.
Where Memlow is different
- You can lock a single note or the whole app with a PIN, and on Android a whole folder too, with your fingerprint. A lock is a PIN check that keeps people out of a note; your backups are what's encrypted.
- Your notes stay on your phone or in your browser. If you back them up to Google Drive, each backup is encrypted on your device first, so Google stores a file it can't read.
- There's no AI. Smart reminders like "call mum tomorrow at 5" come from fixed rules on your device.
- There's more room to work: reminders on single list items, a Tasks view, Goals with streaks, Memlow Sheets with charts, 75 themes, voice notes and version history.
- Urdu and Arabic are first-class: Urdu shows in Nastaliq, the whole app turns right to left, and search understands both.
Both are free. Memlow pays its way with a few ads in the Android app, never in the editor; the web app shows none.
Who should stay with Google Keep
Stay with Keep if you're on an iPhone or iPad, if you sketch and draw in your notes, or if you want reminders inside Google Calendar. If your notes are quick lists with nothing private in them, Keep's speed may be all you need. Memlow is for the notes you'd rather keep to yourself, and for people who want reminders, goals and sheets in the same app.
Can you lock notes in Google Keep?
Not as far as Google's own help pages say. As of October 2026, Keep's help describes no way to lock a single note with a PIN or password; your notes are as open as the phone or Google account they're on. Many people work around it with their phone's own app lock or a secure folder, which locks the whole app rather than one note.
In Memlow, you choose Lock note and pick a PIN. A locked note shows only its title in your list and in search. It's an access lock, not encryption, and Memlow says so plainly. Lock notes and folders with a PIN has the steps.
How to move from Google Keep
There's no Keep importer in Memlow, so the honest way is to bring across the notes you still use:
- Open app.memlow.com on your computer, or the Android app.
- Copy each note from Keep and paste it into a new Memlow note. For a list, type [ ] and a space at the start of a line to make it a checklist item.
- Lock the personal ones, add reminders back, and turn on Google Drive backup so the notes are safe.
Before you leave, Google Takeout lets you download a copy of all your Keep notes. It's worth keeping, though Memlow can't import it. Notes you already have as text or Markdown files are easier: drop them onto app.memlow.com and each becomes a note. Bring in notes from text or Markdown files shows how.
