Android 16 Developer Preview 2 makes Google Keep a system app you can’t uninstall

The company’s free note-taking app Google Keep has been upgraded to a system app Android 16 Developer Preview 2which means it cannot be uninstalled through normal means. The move signals that Keep may play a bigger role and have more powerful features in Android 16.

System apps are applications that come pre-installed with the operating system and are used to perform basic functions on the device. These applications include critical services such as settings, messaging, calling, and system management. Users can only uninstall system applications from a rooted device (with superuser access), but they can be disabled to free up storage space or reduce background processes.

If you are using Android 15 or earlier, you will notice that Google Keep is not a system app and can be easily uninstalled using normal methods. However, in Android 16 Developer Preview 2, Keep is becoming a core app and moved to a protected system partition, which cannot be deleted without root access.

The only reason we think Keep becomes a system app is that Google may be planning to give it deeper system access and functionality, allowing it to perform some critical tasks or integrate with other core Android features.

It’s also possible that Google is making changes to Upcoming lock screen note-taking feature. We previewed this feature before and expected it to debut in Android 15, but the Keep lock screen shortcut is still not available on Android.