topic Re: Camera fails to "finish setup" in Cameras and Doorbells

Camera fails to "finish setup"

Spiaggia — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 20:54:40 GMT

Just installed 2 new "Nest Cam with Floodlight"s. Added both to Google Home app. Both floodlights work fine - can turn them both on & off using the Google Home app. Both cameras are recording events, and even sending notifications to phone & watch. BUT - when I select either camera in the Google Home app - it puts me in a "settings" dialogue that gives me 2 options: "Remove device" or "Finish setup". I select "Finish setup" ... 1 or 2 seconds later the app falls back to the screen for the main home. If I again select the camera - same thing - asks me to Remove or Finish Setup. Note that I can select the floodlights, and turn them off & on, and adjust brightness. But if I select the camera - I get stuck in the "Finish Setup" infinite loop.

Interestingly - I can see footage from both cameras if I go to the Home app's main "history" page. But I cannot select a camera (to see live footage) without entering the dreaded "finish setup" loop.

Have re-installed Home App, have restarted phone. Installed Home app on iPad - got same exact behavior. Tried pushing the factory reset button on the back of one of the cameras - held for 10 seconds. Didn't seem to do anything at all.

LED on the front the of both cameras is steady green.

Any ideas or help?

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

Supert3d — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 11:06:27 GMT

Exactly the same problem here.

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

Supert3d — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 11:08:49 GMT

Got it working by using my old Android phone to end the setup. Must be an iOS bug.

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

Spiaggia — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 01:08:12 GMT

So after getting it to work with your old Android phone, does it now work on your iOS device?

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

frustrated100 — Sun, 13 Mar 2022 20:13:30 GMT

That’s a great summary. Although I’m relieved to see it’s not isolated to a few people, I am sorry you have endured the death loop too. I reported my issue to google, like others. I was ignored so I’m on the 3rd stage of my complaint that I filed with the ACCC. Good luck with your next brand of cameras although I’m sure they’ll simply work as intended without the whole being robbed thing.

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

Supert3d — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 12:37:44 GMT

Yep! It just needed that last push over the line to finish the setup, then it functions as normal. Very annoying bug, hope you have access to an Android phone.

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

Spiaggia — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 21:25:26 GMT

Thanks for the reply Supert3d ... I didn't have an Android phone - but I solved that problem by downloading Bluestacks on my MacBook, and running Google Home there.

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

Spiaggia — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 21:40:05 GMT

I solved this problem. Thanks to a suggestion from Supert3d, I was able to complete the setup using an android phone. Since I don't own an android phone, I downloaded & installed (for free) Bluestacks (android emulator) on my MacBook Pro. Ran Bluestacks, logged in using the same gmail login I use for my Google Home app on my iPhone. Installed Google Home inside of Bluestacks - so now I could run Google Home on an android platform. Ran Google Home inside of Bluestacks, logging in using the same gmail as I use for Google Home on my iPhone. It showed my entire home setup, and allowed me to "finish setup" on both cameras.

After completing the "finish setup" inside of Google Home running inside of Bluestacks on my MBP, I then went back to my iPhone and ran Google Home there. And all was working - yay! I can see live footage on both cameras, history from both cameras, etc. It now all works on iOS.

What didn't work was camera setup using Google Home on iOS. Which is - of course - a bug in Google Home for iOS (are you listening Google? - you have a fatal bug in your iOS app).

Using Bluestacks meant jumping through a lot of hoops to solve the problem - but it worked without me having to buy an android phone, or waiting (perhaps forever) for Google to fix their iOS-app bug.

Hope this helps others of you with this problem.

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

frustrated100 — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 00:19:32 GMT

Thanks for sharing in detail how you did it. Not long after you mentioned it it dawned on me you were implying just use a android phone for the set up. I’ll track one down and give it a shot. Thank you

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

edgeofuniverse — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 03:36:12 GMT

I got the same problem with my iPhone. Nothing works for me. Just wondering if I should ask for refund. It is really frustrating.

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

janthadeus — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 03:13:19 GMT

Hi edgeofuniverse,

Oh no! We’re sorry to hear that. Don’t give up on us yet. Let’s sort this out — a few questions: what’s the model of your Nest camera? When did the issue start? What’s the status light of your camera? How far is your camera from the router? What’s the make and model of your phone? Also, what Wi-Fi frequency band do you try to connect to (2.4 GHz or 5 GHz)?

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks,

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

aatienza — Sat, 15 Oct 2022 14:22:03 GMT

Hey there,

I just wanted to follow up to see if you still need our help. Please let us know as we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

I appreciate the help, JT.

Thanks,

Archie

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

EmersonB — Sun, 16 Oct 2022 14:56:57 GMT

Hello folks,

@edgeofuniverse we haven’t heard any updates from you. I’ll go ahead and lock this thread in 24 hours. If you're still in need of assistance, feel free to start a new thread and we'll be happy to help.

@Jt and Archie I appreciate your response.

Regards,
Emerson

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

edgeofuniverse — Sun, 16 Oct 2022 20:00:06 GMT

Hi there,

Model: Nest Cam (Indoor, Wired, 2nd generation).

The issue starts since I bought them.

Status light showed white and blue. They were blinking.

They are right next to the router.

I use Apple iPhone 12 mini (latest iOS)

Tried both frequencies (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz).

Hope this help.

Thanks!

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

EmersonB — Sun, 16 Oct 2022 23:01:10 GMT

Hi edgeofuniverse,

I appreciate you getting back to us and giving us those important details.

Give these steps a try:

Reset your Nest camera to the factory default.
Remove it from the Google Home App.
Reinstall the Google Home App.
Re-add the Nest camera to the App.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Emerson

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

edgeofuniverse — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 02:08:04 GMT

Hi Emerson,

Thanks for your attention. I've tried all of them, none of them work for me. The camera did show white light, then blinking blue light. Near the end of the setup, the blue light went off and the step on downloading update never complete... Extremely frustrated.

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

janthadeus — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 02:19:46 GMT

Hey edgeofuniverse,

Thanks for following the suggested troubleshooting steps. Let’s dig deeper into this — here are some troubleshooting steps you may also try:

Restart your modem or router. Unplug it from the power outlet, wait for 1 to 2 minutes. Then, plug it back in.
Make sure Bluetooth is on. Turn Bluetooth off, then back on to refresh the connection.
Close all the apps running in the background of your phone, reopen the Google Home app then try adding it again.
Bring your phone closer to the camera within 10 to 12 inches during pairing setup.
Restart your phone, turn it off for 60 seconds then turn it on.
Put your mobile device on airplane mode, then turn on Bluetooth and WiFi.
Try a different mobile device.

Let me know how it goes.

Thanks for the help here, Archie and Emerson.

Best,

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

edgeofuniverse — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 04:09:54 GMT

Hi @Jan ,

Thanks. I've tried all of the suggestions, but still failed to get them set up.

The funny thing is even when the camera is unplugged (no power), Google Home App still allows me to proceed to set up all the way to "Downloading updates" as if the camera is reachable. Of course the setup never finish.

I reckon Google Home App for iPhone is broken badly.

Best regards,

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

edgeofuniverse — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 19:21:43 GMT

I read https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Cameras-and-Doorbells/Indoor-Nest-Cam-gen2-will-not-finish-setting-up/m-p/64024 there are people with similar issue back a year or two ago. I'm quite upset and have no idea whether it is the Cameras, iPhone Google Home app or Google server issues. I've an older generation of Nest Cam (black). It works well with Nest App. Never so disappointed and helpless with Google's product before. Should I ask for refund? Or is that an official Google communication channel to get it sorted?

Re: Camera fails to "finish setup"

Spiaggia — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 20:09:34 GMT

Hi - I shared your frustration back in March (see my "solution" post above). I concluded that all the rebooting of routers and modems and phones and cameras was useless. The problem is the iOS version of the Google Home app. It has a fatal bug in it that seems to cause this problem. I didn't own any android devices, and didn't want to buy one just to solve this problem ... so I found the free Bluestacks Android emulator, installed it on my MacBook laptop, and then ran the Android version of Google Home inside that emulation. The Android version of Google Home running inside Bluestacks worked just fine - it completed setup without a hiccup, and everything then functioned as expected. The happy-ending part of this story is that after completing the setup using the Android emulator (Bluestacks), everything worked just fine on my iPhone using the iOS version of Google Home. The bug is just that dreaded "can't complete setup" problem. If you get past that problem, then Google Home on iPhone works fine. Yes - it's a royal pain to have to resort to the Bluestacks solution. Yes - it is completely unreasonable to expect the average consumer to be willing to go to that length to work around the obvious bug in Google's iOS app. Yes - I do think that Google is probably losing LOTS of sales due this problem. Yes - if you're not willing to either buy an android device, or use an emulated solution like Bluestacks, then I think your only choice is to return the product. Another lost sale due to Google ignoring the fact they have a bug in their iOS app. Are you listening Google. Good luck edgeofuniverse.