Summary

  • The Google Keep app for Android introduces a new toggle to create text notes with a single tap.
  • This toggle has been in development for a few months now and is rolling out in a limited capacity to some users.
  • While a single tap of the button will create a text note, long-pressing the button in the bottom right corner of the screen will pull up other options.

The Google Keep team decided to shake things up with a redesign of its floating action button (FAB) back in November. While the updated FAB accommodated plenty of options, it also had the side effect of adding an extra step to create a basic text-only note, which is arguably among the most used features on the note-taking app. Thankfully, we saw evidence of this changing in early January with a “Create text notes with a single tap” option in settings. This new toggle is now rolling out to some Android devices running the latest version of Google Keep for Android.

OneNote logo in center of OneNote application on a purple background


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According to 9to5Google, the toggle to “Create text notes by default” is live on one of their devices running version 5.25.102.01.90. However, I didn’t have the same luck, so it’s likely part of a server-side update. With this toggle enabled, users can create a text note with a single tap of the FAB in the bottom right corner of the screen, while it currently requires an additional tap.

Some other changes in tow

The new toggle to create text notes by default and the updated FAB with the Audio option (via 9to5Google)

Google Keep has made minor tweaks to this toggle since its first appearance a few months ago. Interestingly, this single toggle gets a brand-new section in the app’s settings page called Note creation, slotted between Display options and Reminder defaults. By contrast, the initial version had this toggle placed within Display options. The appearance of Note creation with just the one toggle suggests that Google Keep may introduce more options/toggles under this section in future updates.

The phrasing is also different with the latest implementation, with Google stating that long-pressing the FAB will pull up the rest of the options. This means tapping the button once opens a basic text-only note, whereas long-pressing the same button displays the rest of the note options. Of course, you can turn this toggle off if you’re satisfied with the current arrangement in Google Keep.

Another minor development spotted by 9to5Google is the inclusion of the Audio option inside the FAB, which makes it somewhat crowded. Audio is the topmost option now, followed by Image, Drawing, List, and Text. This move also saves a couple of taps as Audio/Recording was previously hidden within the ‘+’ menu that appears after creating a new note.

Are you seeing any of these changes on Google Keep?