Here's why I ditched the 'everything app' and switched back to Google Keep

I’m done with Notion. I used it for years in an attempt to reduce the number of apps I was using, and it worked. The everything app, as it’s called, held my recipes, notes, and all the data related to my job and various side projects.

But the more I used it, the more overwhelmed I got. I wanted to bring a level of simplicity and focus back into my life, so I decided to move back to dedicated apps that serve a single purpose and have minimalist designs and feature sets. I’ve already switched to iA Writer for all my writing needs, and I’ve now moved all my other data from Notion to Google Keep.

Here’s why I moved back to Keep

I actually used Google Keep for a long time years ago, but eventually decided it was too simple for me. I then switched to Evernote and finally to Notion, and now I have come full circle and am back to using Google’s note-taking app.

Notion has become too much for me. I spent too much time tweaking the UI, selecting things like cover images, icons, and a color palette that was used across my pages. I had a complex workflow set up that required a lot of mental gymnastics, and every time I created a new page, I had to set it up so that it was in line with my fancy system and looked the part.

The more mental energy I poured into the software, the more I felt obligated to use it for every trivial detail of my life. It was a classic case of the sunk cost fallacy: even though I was on a free plan, I had invested so much time in configuration that I felt forced to use the app just to justify the effort. My currency wasn’t dollars — it was the mental energy I spent making the system my own.

Because I wanted to keep track of everything, I ended up writing down things that I didn’t necessarily need to track — and then I just forgot they existed. My Notion became full of pages I didn’t really need, leading to friction every time I opened the app. It became harder and harder to find what I was looking for, and I also forgot the intricate details of that fancy system I had set up, which was a frustrating experience. It didn’t really make me more productive; it just made me busier.

I realized that going back to basics was the best option for me. And what is more basic than Google Keep? It’s very simple and has no learning curve whatsoever, unlike Notion, which takes a while to figure out.

So I took the plunge and moved back to Keep, and I don’t regret it. There are no fancy icons, cover images, complex formatting options, or databases available, and that’s a good thing — for me, at least. I don’t need to figure out a detailed system for how to handle notes and other types of data, or how to design each page to make it look pretty. I just separate the data by label (Work, Fitness, General Notes, Recipes…) and then create basic notes containing only the details I need. No fuss. Nothing fancy. Just simplicity and focus at its best. Additionally, I love the integration with Gemini.

The end result is an experience that saves time, lowers my stress, and doesn’t require me to think about the app and how it’s set up. However, there are a few cons to this as well.

I still miss a few things

Notion is personal; Keep is not. It’s that feeling that I miss — the feeling of using a piece of software that was personalized to my taste down to the very last detail.

It was part of my vision — my idea of what’s useful and what’s not, what looks great and what doesn’t. Notion can be as simple or as complicated as I want, which gave me a sense of control you don’t get with most other apps.

I could create tables with dropdown menus, a gallery view for my recipes with custom fields for things like bake time and calories (separated from the step-by-step instructions), and a lot more. It’s something that’s impossible to replicate with Keep.

Google’s app feels a lot colder compared to Notion. Less personal. It lacks character. It’s generally not better or worse than Notion; it’s just different. Very different.

So, I had to make a compromise with the switch. I gained back my focus, time, and mental clarity, but I lost the feeling of using something that I basically designed myself. It’s a compromise I was willing to accept since I’m trying to be more of a digital minimalist than someone who wants all the features an app can possibly offer.

Should you make the switch as well?

It depends. Notion users generally invest so much time in their setup that it’s hard for them to switch to something else. But if you find that you’re wasting too much time managing your pages instead of using the data for productive purposes, then I’d advise you to switch to Keep or a similar app designed with simplicity in mind.

But if you’re still enjoying the experience in Notion and don’t mind the time it takes to set things up and keep up with all the frequent new features, then there’s no reason to switch.

Some people just like the idea of using a single app for things like task management, note-taking, and even budgeting instead of using a dedicated app for each task. That was my thought process for years. It stopped making sense for me, but if it still works for you, Notion is the best of its kind.