Nest app crashing on iPhone

[MarcoLit]

I have an iPhone 14 pro iOS 16.1.2  and for the last couple months my Nest App heats up my phone after viewing a camera or video after about five minutes of playback on one of my Google hub cameras and then the app crashes and kicks me off the app.  I have uninstalled and then reinstalled the app a couple times but hasn’t fixed the issue.

Any other suggestions?

[UserFran]

Hi Rick,  I was leaning towards an issue with software (or hardware) communicating with the server.  I mentioned in the first post that the camera had been disconnecting a lot and displaying a bad image.   I didn't relate that to the iPhone app crashing until I removed the camera and the app started working.   I mentioned that I had 30 cameras in my first post.  it is very difficult to identify a specific device malfunction-and maybe I thought same - it lights up - had a green light, all is good with the world.  But.  I don't think you can compare this to a light bulb - if you switch it on it works or it don't.  There is a lot more functionality then on or off.  Don't you think?  

[Rick383638]

There’s a large chip inside that fails, I’ve seen 2 get wet and leak water inside.  The Chip is a 4$ part from Japan that controls IC cameras.   When you take the camera apart, you can spin the lenses and focus the image. Then put a dab of glue back on it.  I’ve done probably 500 nest camera installations and If they light up, turn green and record they work.   I’ve never seen one partially work.   The antenna inside attaches to a plate around the around edge of the camera.  No camera operating strangle will make my cell phone disconnect from the nest app in 15 seconds.  It all started happening 4 IOS updates ago. The app does not crash on my Samsung phone, ever. Ever ever.  Unless someone else chimes in on that 

[magnuskolsson]

Hello everyone,

I have now been able to reproduce the scenario in my setup and I understand when the iOS app crashes and not. I am not sure if it applies to all of you, but will share as much as possible.

I have two setups:

1.  Home #1. Multi access point wifi with Ubiquity. 7 Nest Indoor Cam. Not IQ

2. Home #2. Multi access point wifi with Ubiquity. 25 Nest Ourdoor Cam. Not IQ

Setup was working well for long time and suddenly iOS Nest app (and Google Home app) started crashing. I tried EVERYTHING for over a year and could not figure it out. It was intermittent, but it got worse and worse.

I have now been able to confirm the following: The nest iOS app does not handle when a camera abruptly disconnects. I can reconfirm this by having the iOS app running for a long time, and the moment I pull the power plug on one of the cameras, the app crashes. If I open the app, the camera is showing OFFLINE in the app, and the app is now stable again. So it is something like: 'the first time an app goes offline, the app does not handle it [maybe a null pointer exception or similar], until it marks the app OFFLINE, and then the app is back to being stable.

It seems (not 100% confirmed) that the same effect could happen if one of the cameras lose WiFi (and hence unexpectedly goes offline).

In my particular setup, there were 2 cameras that were acting weird. Going a bit offline / online, sometimes showing weird images (strange colors). Not sure if their behaviors were due to unstable power, unstable wifi or some malfunctioning of the cameras themselves, but once I completely disconnected them, the app got stable.

Few other random observations

- If any camera is acting up like above on ANY of the homes I have linked to my google account (even if not the one I am currently viewing in the app), the app crashed, so if you are troubleshooting you need to go through all your homes, alternatively create a separate google account with only access to one home at a time

- The iOS app does not only crash when a camera unexpectedly goes OFFLINE but also when it unexpectedly comes BACK. So if I have the app running with one cameras unplugged and I put it back into power, the app crashes. Once I reopen the app, the app is now stable again!

- This 'app crashing every time a camera goes offline or offline across any of the homes that you have access to', seems to need 'one crash per camera affected', so if you have 20 cameras and unplug all of them to troubleshoot, you might need to open the app 20 times and go through 20 crashes until the app is stable, and then you can start adding the cameras back one by one (expect a crash each time you add back a camera), and then you can work your way as long as you get stability back after each 'state change crash'

This is obviously a HORRIBLE product experience, and all the time the Nest Webapp has been working fine, so seems to me that the iOS implementation runs into some issue with state management of cameras going online/offline and that is when it craps out.

@GOOGLE - can you kindly fix this 

[UserFran]

Good morning,  thank-you Magnus and Rick.  One of the best threads for this issue!   I think it has been over a year and I did relate it first to an update to the iPhone way back when.   I would like to try to replace the chip - might dismantle the O'possum camera and give it a try.   I do recall one thread where the person said it was happening on his Samsung (android?) phone too.  Also, a family member has a few homes set up - different accounts.  Mine was the only one crashing their phone.  Also,  I did replace my iPhone recently - upgraded to iPhone 14 pro thinking was the phone.   One more thing.. lol the application now has a bit of a stutter.  I suspect buffering but at least not crashing.

[Rick383638]

AMBARELLA DSP A5S66-C0-RH

[UserFran]

Thank-you Rick.   My App is still stable-will report back after a couple of days with status too.  To respond to history playback issue from Bailey - playback is working well now too.   I hope this solution works for others...

[magnuskolsson]

Hi everyone,

Few days later and my setup holds up. Not a single crash on any of my 5+ iOS devices that previously all were crashing in less than 1 minute. I have kept app open for 15+ mins and it is stable!!

After having been super frustrated for more than a year, I am finally able to use the system again. 🙏

I hope others can be assisted by my step-by-step troubleshooting in my previous post.

Needless to say, Google should solve the root cause (iOS should be able to handle cameras that connect/disconnect whether because of power, wifi or device failure / instability).

[Rick383638]

My app has been working the last 2 days as well. Don’t worry, it won’t last. 

[Nest_App_Suck]

15+ minutes of stable work for the app! Google, you should be proud of yourself!

I was about to rip all of my google cameras out (most of my cameras are IP cams anyway), but cooled down and decided to wait for Nest Doorbell to die (it will not take long for its internal battery to die in Texas heat, thanks for an awesome design, Google). Once this happens, it will be replaced with Ring. All other cameras will be taken down and go to trash.   

I get it that Google's idea was to push everyone to their Google accounts and app, I hope they are happy with what they achieved (loss of reputation and customer's loyalty). 

[UserFran]

Good morning.  thank-you Magnus.   I too have had a very stable iOS connection now.   And I noticed the application loads very fast-both Google home and Nest Aware.    I can page through all my cameras forward and back without donuts spinning or disconnects.   I have not tried using the cell phone only connection or viewing when from another wifi location outside home.   I will do that today. 

[UserFran]

Good morning,  application still stable.   I recommend doing screen prints of device technical info and adding the device code and location.  I taped them in a notebook and some I added router/ access point  location.   

[Vienna]

Same problem with iPhone and Nest app. It crashes within seconds. This has been going on for months and I’m fed up.

[Vienna]

Google needs to step up and make this right. This is terrible and frustrating.

[UserFran]

Good morning,   My iPhone nest app and Google home is still stable since removing the “bad” camera.   Vienna try identifying if you have a camera disconnecting.  See post by Magnus.   

[Rick383638]

The online website works perfectly. It’s the app 

[Rick383638]

nobody knows what a bad camera is. Mines been stable the last week and I haven’t done a thing 

[UserFran]

Hi Rick.  Good news your app is working.  Magnus had good detail on identifying a camera not working properly.   It’s just one of the many solutions that has been suggested.  I agree the app should handle whatever is happening better.   Maybe it’s something in the app that when the server or camera sends a code or instruction it doesn’t recognize-so not to execute bad responses, it just executes close app…  sadly Google thinks this is ok..   I removed that one camera and my app started functioning better-a lot better.  So for Vienna. I suggest try Magnus approach to find the “bad” camera.   

[John068]

I tried every possible fix out there untill i fixed it by checking the memory in iPhone.