topic Re: Nest Cam picks up walkers on sidewalk, but not humans walking up to my porch and entering my hou in Cameras and Doorbells

Nest Cam picks up walkers on sidewalk, but not humans walking up to my porch and entering my house?

gretagrip — Sat, 31 May 2025 19:49:59 GMT

I've had a nest cam on the front of my house for a few years. It usually creates a notification when humans walk up to my house (at least I think it does, not sure of what I could have missed). Upon checking the footage this morning, I see it created a motion detection at 6:50 am of 2 people walking on the sidewalk in front of my house, but failed to create a motion detection at nearly 6:52 am of people walking up to my porch and entering my house? From 6:50:00 - 6:50:22 am, the cam caught the 2 people walking on the sidewalk in front of my house. I continued searching footage, and discovered that at 6:50:55, a car pulls up in the street in front of my house. 2 people proceed to unload items from driver and passenger doors at 6:51:48, and proceed to walk up my driveway to my porch at 6:51:52 and enter my house. Some seconds later, one exits, there is brief talking and an exhange of a small item which happens 5 feet below the camera. The one who exited walks down the steps directly in front of the camera/house to their car. None of this is captured. Why? What can I do?

Re: Nest Cam picks up walkers on sidewalk, but not humans walking up to my porch and entering my hou

MplsCustomer — Sat, 31 May 2025 21:50:27 GMT

@gretagrip

Do you by any chance have a 2nd gen Google Nest Battery Camera that is running on battery power? We've had a battery camera for 3-1/2 years, plugged in; if we unplug it, it does not do well at waking up to detect events.

Re: Nest Cam picks up walkers on sidewalk, but not humans walking up to my porch and entering my hou

gretagrip — Sat, 31 May 2025 21:54:29 GMT

No. It's hard-wired.

Re: Nest Cam picks up walkers on sidewalk, but not humans walking up to my porch and entering my hou

jenniffert — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 23:58:14 GMT

Hi gretagrip,

Thanks for reaching out here in the community! I'm sorry to hear that your Google Nest Cam (wired) didn't detect and record people approaching and entering your home, especially since it had just picked up less significant, more distant motion moments before. No worries, help is here!

To better investigate the reason you’re not receiving notifications, I’d like to gather the following information:

What is the specific generation of your Nest camera?
Are you using the Google Home app or Nest app?
Are there any Activity Zones set up for the camera?
Has the camera been moved recently?
Were there any changes to the Wi-Fi network?
How far is the wifi router from the camera?
Did you receive any notifications in the past for motions and activity?

In the meantime, please make sure notifications are turned on for your phone and the camera app. For reference, you can check out this article: Camera and doorbell alerts.

I appreciate your input, @MplsCustomer.

Keep me posted.

Best regards,

Jenniffer