KeptWell vs Google Drive
Medical records in Google Drive vs KeptWell
Reviewed
In a shared Google Drive folder, each file belongs to the person who uploaded it, and only they can delete it. So if your family keeps a parent's records in Drive, have one person upload, and share with each person's Google Account, never by link. KeptWell reads every record for the whole family, free today.
Where a Drive folder works, and where it stops
Google Drive is good storage. But in Drive, ownership and storage follow whoever uploaded the file, so a folder four siblings add to is really four people's files in one place. And a new record sits there unread until someone opens it: the scan report, the changed dose, the lab that came back high. KeptWell reads every record when it arrives, puts a plain-English summary on top and tells the circle it's ready. The medication list and the lab trends build from what the doctors wrote. It's free today.
If the records stay in Drive, set the folder up this way
The first three steps come from Google's own Drive help and plans page for personal accounts, as of October 2026.
Have one person do the uploading
You own what you upload to Drive, and it counts against your storage, which is 15 GB free and shared with your Gmail and Photos. Only the owner can delete a file. Making someone else the owner of the folder doesn't change that: the files inside stay with whoever uploaded them. So pick one person to upload. The cost is that they become the bottleneck, and their storage fills first. Google's next step up is 100 GB for $1.99 a month. If files are already spread across siblings, each person can offer to transfer theirs, and the other person has to accept.
Share with each person, never by link
Add each family member by email. Google says anyone without a Google Account has to make one first, and any email address works for that, not only Gmail. Skip "Anyone with the link": anyone who has the link can open the file without signing in.
Decide who can download
By default, people you share with as viewers can download the files. The owner can turn off downloading, printing and copying in the advanced sharing settings. On a personal account, shared access has no end date. Google offers expiry only on work and school accounts, so when someone should stop seeing the folder, remove them yourself.
Keep one current medication list
Make one Google Doc for the current medications and allergies, and update it after every visit, every discharge and every pharmacy change. It's the page you'll want in your hand at the ER. It's also the one step that's real work: someone has to read each new paper and change the list by hand.
How the two handle a parent's records
Google Drive's column comes from Google's Drive help pages and plans page for personal accounts, as of October 2026.
| Feature | KeptWell | Google Drive |
|---|---|---|
| When a new record is added | Yes — The AI reads every page and puts a plain-English summary and key findings on top; the circle is told it's ready | It stays as the file you uploaded; the Drive phone app can scan paper into a searchable PDF |
| Who owns each file | Anyone in the circle can add a record, an admin can remove any of them, and what someone added stays if they leave the circle | Whoever uploaded it; it counts against their storage, and only they can delete it |
| Getting the family in | An admin invites each person by email; they sign in with a link sent to that address | Each person needs a Google Account, which can use any email address |
| Downloads and access over time | Every member can open and download the originals; an admin removes anyone from the circle at any time | Viewers can download by default unless the owner turns it off; access can't be set to expire on a personal account |
| Reading the records for you | Yes — Every record, in plain English, plus a private chat for each person that cites the record. It explains; it doesn't diagnose | Partial — Ask Gemini in Drive summarizes files and answers with citations, on Google AI Pro ($19.99 a month) or Ultra |
| Current medication list | Yes — Built from the records, with every change dated | Whatever someone types into a Doc or Sheet and keeps up by hand |
| Lab results over time | Yes — Charted as trends by test, from every report in the circle | A spreadsheet someone updates by hand |
| Storage and price | Free today; no ads, never sells data | 15 GB free, shared with Gmail and Photos; 100 GB is $1.99 a month |
| Taking everything out | An admin exports the whole circle as a ZIP, original files included, any time | Select files on a computer and download them; a Google Doc downloads as a PDF or Word file |
When KeptWell is the fit
What changes when the folder reads itself
Same papers, same family. Here's what you stop doing by hand.
Nobody has to open the PDF to know what it says
Tuesday's CT report lands with a plain-English summary on top: what was scanned, what it found, and what follow-up it calls for. Everyone in the circle is told it's ready, so your brother doesn't have to text to ask whether anything came back. If a word on it is new to you, the summary says what it means.
The medication list keeps itself
Keeping up the medication-list Google Doc from the last setup step is the job KeptWell takes over. Every discharge summary and visit note it reads feeds one medication list, with each change dated, so you can see when the dose went up. Lab results become trends by test, so a creatinine that crept up over three draws is one chart, not three PDFs.
Questions get answered from the records, free
Each person in the circle gets a private chat that has read every record, and its answers point to the document they came from. Asking questions of your files in Drive takes Gemini on a Google AI Pro or Ultra plan. In KeptWell it's free today, and nobody else in the circle sees what you asked.
Other head-to-heads families have asked us about
KeptWell vs Apple Health
If your parent's hospital records also sit in the Health app on their iPhone, see what Apple's family sharing shows and how those records reach the whole family.
KeptWell vs MyChart
If the records you keep downloading come from an Epic patient portal, see how KeptWell connects MyChart, where the health system has turned that on.
If you're organizing the papers
- A medical binder the family can read Everything from the paper binder in one place, read and summarized.
- How to organize medical records A filing system that works with or without an app.
- KeptWell for aging parents Keeping one parent's records in one place the whole family can read.
- What free today means No ads, no data sales, no AI training on your records, and an export any time.
A note from KeptWell
Keep every record in one place your whole family can read
KeptWell takes the scans, lab results, visit notes, and appointment recordings a family collects and turns them into one organized, searchable record. Upload a document and it's read, summarized in plain English, and filed where everyone in the care circle can find it. Ask a question and get an answer grounded in the actual records.
It's free to start, with no credit card. We never sell your data or show you ads.
Questions about keeping medical records in Google Drive
- What's the downside of keeping medical records in Google Drive?
- Google says Drive files are encrypted in transit and at rest, and that Drive doesn't use your information for advertising. The downsides show up when a family shares one folder. Each file belongs to whoever uploaded it and counts against their storage, viewers can download by default, and access on a personal account never expires on its own. The bigger one is that a new record sits in the folder until somebody opens it. Somebody still reads each new report and updates the medication list by hand.
- Can Gemini read my mom's medical records in Google Drive?
- It can, on the right plan. On a personal Google account, Ask Gemini in Drive comes with Google AI Pro ($19.99 a month, as of October 2026) or Ultra, not the cheaper Google AI Plus. Google says it can find files, summarize documents and answer questions across them, with citations to the originals. KeptWell reads every record in the circle, free today, and explains what each one says. It doesn't diagnose.
- Can KeptWell pull in our shared Google Drive folder?
- Not directly. We don't connect to Drive, so you download the files and then upload them. In Drive on a computer, Command-click (Mac) or Ctrl-click (Windows) to select the files, then right-click and choose Download. A Google Doc, like the medication list, can download as a PDF or Word file. If the download arrives as a ZIP file, open it and upload the files inside. KeptWell takes PDFs, photos of paper, Word and Excel files and audio, and reads each one as it lands. You don't have to stop using Drive: keep the wills, deeds and insurance policies there.
- Is a Google Drive folder HIPAA compliant?
- Google's HIPAA answer is written for Google Workspace customers: its Business Associate Agreement is part of Workspace, and an administrator has to review and accept it before health information goes in. KeptWell does not currently offer a Business Associate Agreement or claim HIPAA compliance.
Bring the medical records over, keep Drive for the rest
Start a care circle, upload the records from your Drive folder and invite the people who were sharing it. Each record comes back read, in plain English. Free today.
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